Shadows of a Dream
by Krystal Lily Potter
Summary: Half a year has passed, and life on Destiny Islands couldn't be worse. Darkness, however, still creeps in the shadows, waiting to strike the purest hearts and souls of all. The only way to fight it: look beyond the shadows of a dream. READ FINAL MIX.
1. Prologue

**Shadows of a Dream**

_**Prologue**_

Darkness, it was what they dwelt in at all times of day.

Her dark brown eyes glanced over at the four other figures walking with her. All of them wore normal clothes, not the darkened robes like those idiots from Organization XIII did. She smirked lightly at the thought of them: the Nobodies who thought that they were everything.

"Crysita?" the tallest male asked. "Why are we here?"

"Organization XIII took great interest in this place," Crysita said while bushing her violet-black hair out of her eyes. "Can you tell me why?"

Everyone shook his or her head no.

"Hidden here, somewhere, is rumored to be one final Ansem report, one written at the last minute and then hidden. Do you know where this is?"

"Here?" another man asked, ignoring her last question completely. "You found it."

"I meant do you know where we are idiot! But no, I didn't find it, a member of Organization XIII believed it was here but they found nothing. At first I thought the stupid fools probably didn't look hard enough, but then I found out what must have happened. The one who found it was number thirteen, otherwise known as Roxas," Crysita explained as she walked past the jagged, dark rocks. "Unfortunately for the Organization, our dear Roxas was captured and his memories erased until his Other's memories were fully revived and then, rumor has it, he as put back inside of his original."

"Is that really possible?"

"No Jorix, she just said it for kicks," a younger girl snapped.

"Easy Lilanti," Jorix said with a grin. "You can't blame me for being skeptical. Imagine how hard it must be to find you're original heart in the hundreds of thousands of Heartless there are?"

"That's the thing," Carverin interrupted. He was the tallest there and would have commanded the most respect, if he weren't such a pushover to Crysita. "Rumor has it that the original of Roxas was still in human form, having got back his heart. But the point is Roxas forgot where the report was, but I'm worried that his original might find some of the memories that Roxas forgot."

"That doesn't make since. Shouldn't Roxas have completely faded into the darkness?" Jorix asked.

"The goal of a Nobody is to find their original heart in the Heartless and take it back, but if the heart is in your original person…things might be different," Lilanti replied.

While they were talking, Crysita walked past them and over to a cliff. Her brown eyes studied the area around her as she said, "We have to get back to work. Split up and search everywhere for this document."

Jorix, Lilanti, Carverin, and the last of the group, the mostly silent Sarlio followed her lead and quickly went in different directions, trying to find the missing Ansem reports.

A cold blast of air hit Crysita, causing her to wince. She turned slightly and looked up at the sky for a moment before shrugging and turning back to the search.

If she had the ability to feel anything, she might have caught the feeling of foreboding that she would have when she was whole.

**Author's Note**

I know, different for me. It's not Harry Potter! Truthfully I'm a little bored of Harry Potter right now, but as I am a rapid fan of Disney, Kingdom Hearts automatically attracted me to it (once my friend showed me how to play it because I am hopeless with video games).

This takes place after KHII. While there may be some grammar and spelling errors I hope there aren't as many as my earlier HP fanfics prays to god or whoever else may be up there

So tell me what you think and chapter one will be up as soon as possible.

_**Krystal Lily Potter**_


	2. What I've Done

**Shadows of a Dream**

_**Chapter One – What I've Done**_

The sun beat down brightly on Destiny's Islands, leaving the tropical place warm and welcoming as always. The deep aqua water rushed up to the shore in small waves, lapping at the black sneakers of the young man that lay on the warm, white sand. His eyes were closed and the warm breeze brushed his spiky brown hair over his tanned skin. The sunlight reflected off of the 16-year-old's chains and belts he wore on his clothes, and to try and look at the silver chain with a crown pendant around his neck would be a risk to the eyes of the gazer.

He appeared to be asleep, but in reality he wasn't. He was enjoying the day despite the fact that the sun made his black vest and shorts warm to the touch (his white t-shirt spared most of his front from the heat though). Suddenly the alarm on his cellphone went off, and his eyes snapped open, revealing the brightest pair of cerulean eyes that anyone had ever seen. He quickly sat up, cursing slightly and then jumped to his feet.

Sora quickly retreated farther into the interior of the small island he was on. He sat again once he reached the inside of the Secret Place, a place where only one person would think to look for him.

He sighed deeply as he sat down on the cave's cool floor. It wasn't that he wanted to be inside, away from the sun; it was just that his alarm signified the end of the school day when he _should_ have been _at_ school.

When he and Riku had returned from their adventures in the summer, Sora hadn't expected his mother to start nagging him about school the day after he got home, but she had. He had missed an entire year of 'torture' (as he put it), so for the rest of the summer he was forced to go to summer school. His mother insisted on it. He passed through that quickly enough, but didn't get to enjoy his time with his friends. He supposed it was a good thing he went to summer school, otherwise he would have been a year behind Kairi, and Wakka (with Selphie and Tidus), but it still annoyed him. Riku had decided not to go and was now in the same year as him.

Sora hadn't meant to do it, but the reason he wasn't at school at the moment was a bad habit he had developed. He wasn't really sure why, but he had developed a habit of jigging school. Sometimes it was like he forgot all about going back to that place, and others he was just too restless to learn about the quadratic equation, or to be lectured about how to use APA format. None of that interested him anymore. He had enjoyed gym because it let him blow off some steam, but after he skipped so many of his classes except for that, the principal had pulled him out of that class and forced him to go to a study period instead. He ended up getting frustrated and, instead of going, always skipped that class.

His mother started yelling at him because of his habits. She seemed to enjoy raising her voice at him lately, but he knew he deserved it. Still, there was something in his heart that didn't want to listen. He didn't want to go to school, who cared about college or earning billions of dollars? Well, some people might, but not Sora. He knew that there was more to life than having the biggest house or the best sports car. He knew that, no matter what, he had a mission that he would need to do, another place he would need to save.

His mother wasn't the only one who had yelled at him for his lack of trying at school. Kairi, when she had seen his grades, growled at him for about an hour non-stop. She pointed out that Riku had been gone just as long as him and he had fallen back into habit perfectly. She also pointed out that Riku had actually spent the whole year away from home, to Sora it couldn't have felt more than several months because he had been asleep for a year and couldn't remember part of it.

Kairi had become, in a sense, the reason for all the emotions he now felt in his life. Whenever he was happy these days it was when he was thinking about her smile, whenever he was angry it was because she was mad at him (which was a lot recently), and whenever he was sad it was because she was so disappointed in him (also a lot).

'_And you, my good friend, are a complete sap.'_ A voice broke through his thoughts.

Then there was him.

When Sora started becoming frustrated with school and all of his friends and family he felt like he had no one to talk to or nowhere to turn for advice. As it turned out the best person to talk to happened to be himself, or rather a slightly different piece of himself that had his own voice and looks, and ran around in Sora's head at all times of day. Roxas became the one Sora turned to just to talk and vent. There was really no need for it, since Roxas saw what he saw, heard was he thought and sensed what he felt, but it helped just to vent to someone that could actually talk back.

"You know," Sora spoke aloud. "You actual deserve to be your own person, you know that Roxas? You're different enough from me as it is."

The spot a few feet in front of him seemed to glow for a moment before a translucent version of Roxas appeared in front of him. The blond Nobody blinked for a moment before saying, "Thanks, I guess, but I'm not that different from you. I guess I just show the parts of you that you don't acknowledge as much. For instance I love that rock music you have in your room but you don't really think about it outright. Then you are as athletic as any jock in the school, but I don't really care about it that much. Unless it's sparring."

"It's strange, we're the same person but so different," Sora agreed with a nod.

"Now I'm sure that's not why you're mind is going a mile a minute and why I'm here talking to you," Roxas said while rolling his eyes. Sora snickered at his other half. "I mean you're technically talking to yourself."

"I know I just—it just feels better talking to someone who can talk back, even if that someone already knows all my problems and is, in fact, another version of me."

"Alright then, so lets pretend that I don't know what's up already. What's bothering you bro?" Roxas asked while putting his hands behind his head in a very Sora-like gesture.

"Just the usual," Sora said while rolling his eyes. "You know, ditching school and now waiting for Kairi to find me and yell at me."

"She always seems to be able to find you, no matter where you seem to be," Roxas noted.

"It's your fault (Roxas raised an eyebrow at this). My thinking is that you and Namine are strongly connected as Nobodies, so Namine feels you out and tells Kairi where you are, because if you're there than I have to be too," Sora said, grinning the entire time.

"You just thought that up on the spot, didn't you?" He didn't need to point out that the idea was stupid since Sora and Kairi had a much stronger connection than their Nobodies did. They did have a piece of the other's heart in side of them for a reason.

"You tell me."

"That's no fun," Roxas shot back. "So, first thing's first, even though I already know the answer, I still want to hear why you didn't go to school today."

"Because it was a test day in three out of five of my classes," Sora said while rolling his eyes. "Grade ten is pretty boring, but I'll admit that I'm happy that I didn't have to go back and do grade nine again. Still, who thinks that giving a test in science, math and English all in the same day is a good idea?! The only escapes I had were gym and history (for lack of testing since the teacher claimed he didn't believe in testing) and they took gym away."

"Yeah I know, I am in your head when you're sitting in those classes and let me tell you, boring," Roxas said while throwing his arms in the air dramatically.

Sora eyed him for a moment before saying, "I wish I could have customized my Nobody."

Roxas blinked once, twice, and a third time before saying, "Why?"

"I would have given you a photographic memory so you could remember the stuff and tell me the answers."

Laughter from both the original and the nobody echoed around the cave.

"So next thing," Roxas said after his laughter died. "How are you going to deal with your mother and Kairi?"

"Most likely pretend to listen to my mother until I snap," Sora said with a nod. "And you know I deal with Kairi the same way you deal with Namine. We both know she nags you for not stopping me from skipping."

"She and Kairi are the same person," Roxas mirrored Sora's nod. "It's frustrating from time to time."

"Tell me about it," Sora said with a sigh.

"Here's the big question I think we all want to know," Roxas said after a moment. "Do you really care if you fail school? I mean you say you hate tenth grade and all, so I assume that means you don't want to go back and do it again."

Sora blinked with surprise at the question. He knew he must have thought about it since Roxas thought the question was important enough to talk about, but it had never really occurred to him. Did he really care about school?

Sora had been a straight A student, but he had never really cared like some people did. He was a good student, but at the same time he was never one of the perfect, constantly quiet, always sucking up to the teacher kind of person. Now though, most of his grades were around C (he did get an A in physical education, but that went down the gutter) and dropping by the day. Mind you, he did do fairly well in history because that teacher not only believes that tests were the source of all that is evil, but he thought attendance was a stupid thing to keep track of. If the people passed in all their projects done exactly how this teacher wanted then that was all he asked. Sora really liked that teacher's view of life.

"You know," Sora said slowly. "I don't think that I really care anymore. Hell, I don't even think I'll end up going back. That'll be a great laugh, won't it, the Keyblade Master—high school, grade ten drop out!"

Roxas sniggered a bit before saying, "Do you really think Cloud or Leon, or even Yuffie finished school? The only one I could see actually participating in public education is Aerith. Maybe the others went to some kind of combat school or something but high school? Not so much."

"Tifa definitely would have gotten kicked out for fighting," Sora agreed with a nod. "Yeah I see what you mean. I don't know, it just doesn't seem worth it? Could you ever picture me—er us—with a normal job."

"I did some odd jobs like delivering mail," Roxas replied.

Sora shot him an annoyed look before saying, "I don't think that counts."

"SORA HIKARI!"

Sora and Roxas exchanged terrified looks before Roxas vanished back into his Other.

Sora turned slightly and stared at the entrance. He squirmed a bit as Kairi climbed into the cave, her school uniform ruffled from the squeeze in and a livid look on her face.

She straightened herself up and put her hands on her hips. Staring at him with angered indigo eyes she snapped, "Well?"

"Well I can't give you a real opinion on your look cause it's the same as all the other girls' at the moment," was what came out of Sora's mouth.

Kairi glared at him and snapped, "Well smartass, you should be wearing something similar, not cracking jokes about it!"

"I didn't mean to say that," Sora said with a groan_. 'Thanks Roxas.'_

'_Sorry, I didn't know it would come out,'_ Roxas replied with a sigh at how his thought escaped Sora's lips.

"Well what did you mean to say?" Kairi growled. "Was it supposed to be something about how you're throwing away your future? Because if it was then good for you, you realized that you have a problem."

Now it was Sora's turn to glare and he said, "I don't have a problem Kairi, I just don't care about school."

"Why not? You're future depends on it."

"Maybe to Wakka, Tidus, Selphie and maybe even you and Riku it does, but Kairi my future is not going to involve actually working and you know it. You know I'm not going to be spending my life here on these islands."

"Don't say that," Kairi replied suddenly seeming scared. "Don't Sora."

He stood up and said, "Might as well go home and get mother dearest's lecture done with too."

Kairi grabbed his arm, her fingernails digging in painfully. He didn't turn around to face her. After a few moments of them just standing like that Sora jerked his arm from her grasp and crouched down to leave the cave.

Kairi watched him leave and tears build up in her eyes before falling.

"Kairi?" a soft voice asked.

Kairi didn't have to look to know that it was her Nobody, Namine. "He broke his promise. He's changed."

"He had to," Namine said after a moment. Kairi turned and faced her, a curious look on her face. "Sora was such a sweet, innocent kid when he became the Keyblade Master, it was only natural that after seeing everything he's seen and going through everything he has that he wouldn't be the same."

Kairi nodded slightly but whispered, "But still, he broke one promise. How many more is he going to break before he accidentally breaks my heart?"

Namine said nothing. She had no answer to that question as she never had a heart before and now shared one with the girl when inside of her.

Kairi knew she wouldn't get an answer, and as her Nobody went back inside of her, she stood alone in silence, tears streaking down her cheeks.

**Author's Note**

So this is chapter one. I tried to make things a little different from most, and that's why Sora's world isn't that happy. I also love the characters of Roxas and Namine too, so expect to see them a lot.

Thank you to Tynari and Static 44 for reviewing, and don't worry, this story will be updated fairly quickly.

Just a warning for later on, things may seemed a little rushed, but I didn't want this to be one of those stories that is over 60 chapters long.

Thanks for reading and tell me what you think since this is my first time branching off of HP since I started writing it.

_**Krystal Lily Potter**_


	3. Never Alone

**Shadows of a Dream**

_**Chapter Two – Never Alone**_

Sora never did go home to see his mother. He could already recite her entire speech by heart, well almost. The parts he missed Roxas would remember and together they could give themselves the lecture that Mrs. Hikari would have waiting for them.

Instead, Sora decided to walk around on the inland of their small island. He had to admit that, when he was gone, the thing he missed most about these islands was either laying out on the beach or walking through the tropical forests.

'_Here was me thinking that the thing you missed most about this place was Kairi,'_ Roxas joked.

"No comments from you," Sora whispered. "You were the one who got me in trouble with Kairi earlier."

Roxas said nothing, but he heard him snigger.

After that conversation he found a comfortable place to lay to try and sort out his thoughts. That had proved to be useless as he just kept having random and sometimes embarrassing conversations with Roxas when a certain topic breeched his mind, namely a pretty girl with deep red hair (Or, when he got the chance to tease Roxas, her equally pretty blond-haired Nobody).

Still, the warm, calm air eventually lulled Sora into a comfortable sleep.

_**VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV**_

Mrs. Hikari sat in her spotless kitchen staring at the door with a stern expression on her face and her posture perfect as ever. Her hands grasped tightly onto the cup of lemonade she had been drinking earlier. Her eyes darted to the clock, then to the window to see the now dark sky. Her ocean blue irises, the ones her son had inherited, held an angry but worried look to them. She didn't understand what was happening to her boy, why he was turning into such a bad kid. She had raised him as best as she could, hadn't she? His father, Raiden, had died when he was only a few months old, and she had taken care of her son alone ever since. She had tried to raise him as a polite, kind, gentleman that her father (Sora's grandfather) would have been proud of, but where had she gone wrong?

She shook her head and her dark blond hair fell in her face. She knew that Sora would have a hard time sinking back into normal life, but she hadn't known that it was going to be this hard for him. She had to curse herself for growling at him as much as she did. She was slowly starting to see that screaming wasn't going to solve his problem.

Sometimes she worried that, when he left in the mornings either to go to school or lord knows where, that he would never come back. It was a terrible thought, but she could see some logic in it. She hadn't been the nicest person recently to her son and she knew that he was annoyed with her constant nagging. She also knew that he would have to leave eventually (he had told her so several times) and she worried that he would just go and not come back.

On the days like this, when it was nightfall and he still wasn't home, was when she really began to worry.

Slowly Ayame Hikari stood up and walked over to the phone. Carefully she dialed the phone number of the one person that she knew who would have seen Sora today.

"Hello?" a sweet voice on the other end asked.

"Hello Kairi."

"Oh, Mrs. Hikari, what can I help you with?" Kairi asked, even though she already knew what the older lady was going to ask.

"Have you seen Sora today? He hasn't come home yet."

"I saw him earlier on the other island," Kairi replied. "He wasn't in too good a mood."

"Oh, well if you see him walking by your place yell at him to hurry it along."

"Yes ma'am," Kairi replied before quickly hanging up.

"Oh Sora," Ayame said as she sat down again. "Don't you see how we're all worried about you baby?"

**_VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV_**

He was falling, but was barely aware of it. His eyes that were closed slowly opened and he looked around with confusion. It was like he was falling through water. Slowly his body flipped over and he carefully landed on his feet.

For a moment Sora stood in confusion until the darkness under his feat started to rapidly vanish and doves flew off in its place. He looked down at the stained-glass floor and realized what he was looking at: an image of himself! The large image of him started in the center and ended in the far right corner, around the edges of the platform lay pale blue pictures of Riku, Donald, Goofy, Kairi and in the three other open corners were images of King Mickey, Namine and Roxas.

Confusion stood out on Sora's face as nothing happened for a moment. Carefully he walked towards the edge and looked down it and saw many other platforms below him. There was one for each Princess of Heart (his eyes lingered on the one of Kairi), then the three-heart platform, and directly underneath the one he stood on, was a different one of him…one from when he was a little younger and still wore that god-awful red jumpsuit (what had he been thinking?).

"I don't understand," Sora said after a moment. "Why am I here?" His voice echoed around him. "Roxas?" No answer.

Sora looked around, not nervously but with confusion. He was completely alone and nothing was happening. It was odd, since he had never truly been alone over the past two years, especially since Roxas had become part of him again.

"Don't be afraid," a small voice whispered. Sora looked around quickly, trying to figure out where it was coming from. "Don't stop fighting Sora. The battles have yet to begin. An enemy with a darker purpose is coming Sora and this time most of you will not be whole coming out of the battle."

"What does that mean? What darker purpose?" Sora called out.

"Don't stop fighting, and hold close what is dear to you," the voice whispered before completely fading out.

Sora looked around with confusion and yelled in shock as the platform shattered under him and he started falling. He crashed through the other one of him, the three-heart platform, Belle's, Aurora's, Snow White's, all of them. He felt the glass cut and tear at his skin as he closed his eyes tightly and kept on falling.

**_VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV_**

"Sora!"

A terrified yelp escaped Sora's lips as he shot up. His cerulean blue eyes looked around and he flinched and automatically backed away from Roxas' translucent image. He looked around, breathing in and out deeply.

"What happened?" Roxas asked, fear standing out in his voice.

"I-I don't know," Sora said after he calmed himself down. "A dream?"

Roxas shook his head and said, "No, I don't think so. We do have separate dreams, as odd as that is, but I can still always feel you there. This time though, it was like you were gone. I appeared beside you to see what was happening, and physically you were there but your mind wasn't."

"I was on the platforms," Sora said. "The stained glass ones. Someone told me that the darkness, a darkness worse than even Organization XIII was coming."

Roxas knew what platforms his Other was talking about, the same ones that they had fought on. He looked at the ground thoughtfully and said, "Was there anything else?"

"Yeah," Sora said. "The voice told me that most of us wouldn't be coming out of his whole and to keep what was dear to me close. I don't get the first part. I mean, am I going to lose an arm or something?"

"Maybe," Roxas said. "Maybe it has something to do with me and Namine because without you guys we're not whole and without us you and Kairi aren't whole either."

"Maybe," Sora agreed. "Or more of our friends are going to lose their hearts."

Roxas winced and said, "That seems like a good bet there. And it's easy to tell what you should keep close to you."

"Kairi," Sora said quickly. "…and Riku too."

Roxas looked like he was about to laugh but stopped when they both heard a rustling sound. Both stood up quickly, and Roxas vanished again.

Sora carefully stepped forward then jumped backwards as a Heartless appeared in front of him. His Keyblade appeared in his hand and he was about to attack it when he noticed something odd: it wasn't attacking him.

Blinking with confusion he hesitantly took a step towards the creature and noticed that it was smaller than normal…much smaller. It's beady yellow eyes looked up at him before it wailed, in the most horrible voice Sora had ever heard, "HELP!"

Sora stared at it in surprise as it vanished into the ground and didn't come back.

"I'm going completely nuts," he said. "Heartless aren't that tiny and they don't talk. This is what I get for talking to my other self all the time."

'_Your not crazy,'_ Roxas said in his mind. _'That little thing was real.'_

Sora nodded his head and started running back towards the beach. He needed to get home to tell Riku and Kairi about this. He ran as fast as he could and yelled in shock as another tiny Heartless appeared in front of him. He jumped over it and looked back but it was gone.

He tried to keep running when he felt a clawed hand grab onto his ankle. His world flew upward as he fell and the last thing he saw before he felt a splitting pain in his head and his world went black, was a large rock quickly rising to meet his head.

**VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV**

**Author's Note**

I know, this one is a really fast update, but I probably won't be updating everyday (let alone twice a day) for now on. I'm sorry if there are some grammar and spelling mistakes, but I did look this over a few times. There still is a chance that, instead of reading what was really there, I read what I thought I wrote (confusing, but that's what happens to most people).

Thank you to ffkingdom, King Harrison, Static44 and Kairi8013 for reviewing!

Oh, and about this story being dark…where I did try to make it seem darker (and there are spots you can tell) I also gave into my sappy side and wrote some fluffy stuff too so it's not too dark. You'll see what I mean later on.

Sorry about all the Vs as dividers, but the line (the hr tag for anyone who knows html) only words as some points of time and I wanted some consistency.

So what do you all think so far for my first Kingdom Hearts story? Tell me and I'll see how fast I can get the next chapter up (which IS already written, but I'll hold out for suspense purposes).

Love ya all!

_**Krystal Lily Potter**_


	4. How to Save a Life

**Shadows of a Dream**

_**Chapter Three – How to Save a Life**_

Kairi sighed as she heard the telephone echo throughout her household. She then groaned angrily as she heard her ever-cheerful mother downstairs answer it happily. Kairi slowly rolled out of bed, her indigo shaded eyes looked around slowly as she walked out of her room. She quickly walked downstairs to the kitchen, expecting her mother and father to be there with large smiles on their faces, but instead she was greeted with her father's confused look and a worried one on her mothers.

"Kairi honey," her mother, Mrs. Suzu Yamada said. "Have you seen Sora recently?"

"Yesterday just after school," Kairi replied. "Why?"

"He-he didn't come home last night," her mother said hesitantly.

Kairi felt as if her heart stopped beating and her breath caught in her throat. She heard the sobs of his mother through the phone. The only thoughts that went through her head was, 'He couldn't have left! He couldn't!'

'_He didn't,'_ Namine's voice whispered through her mind. This calmed her down but then that left the question, where was he?

'_I can still feel Roxas close by,'_ Namine said. _'There's something wrong though. I can feel him but I can't communicate with him like I usually can.'_

Kairi spared a glance at her mother before turning on her heel and running up the stairs. She rushed into her room, ignoring the school uniform that she had neatly placed out the right before. It ended up in a crumpled state on the floor as she fished her normal clothes out of her dresser and quickly replaced her pajamas with them.

She barely listened as her mother called her name as she streaked down the stairs, only stopping to put her shoes on.

"Kairi! Where are you going?" her father, Daisuke, called out to her. "You have to get to school."

"I'm not going," she replied quickly and went to spring out the door but her father's strong yet gentle grip held her in the house.

"What was that young lady?"

Kairi wrenched her arm out of his hand, as she said, "No daddy, I'm going to find Sora and I don't care what you say!" Before he could say anything else she ran out the door and was out of sight.

**VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV**

Selphie walked down the road towards the school, walking off to the side of Wakka and Tidus. A few feet in front of them walked Riku. Selphie looked at him and couldn't help but be amused at the tall young man in the school uniform. He just didn't look like Riku in those clothes.

Her deep green eyes flickered to the ocean and a frown appeared on her face as she heard Tidus whisper, "I wonder if Sora's going to be at school today."

"Probably not," Wakka replied with his thick accent.

In front of her, Selphie saw Riku shift uncomfortably, obviously having heard the small conversation as well. She knew he defended Sora, saying that the younger boy had been through a lot and was under a lot of stress at the moment, but even he was starting to see that his best friend had a problem.

She turned her gaze again and stopped walking at what she saw. There, running towards the dock in her normal clothes was Kairi.

"Kairi?" she called out, but the other girl ignored her. The three boys stopped walking, and Riku's bright green eyes automatically snapped to the figure of his running friend.

Kairi ignored them and practically lunged at her boat. She quickly untied it and started paddling madly.

"Maybe she's just going to hang out with Sora for the day," Tidus suggested.

"Maybe," Riku agreed after a minute. Wakka and Tidus continued on their way but Riku and Selphie continued staring at their friend.

They looked at one another before Selphie said, "We should probably get to school. I imagine if anything's wrong Kairi would call on her cell. You have yours, right?"

Riku nodded, patting his pocket where his cellphone was hidden. Slowly and hesitantly he allowed Selphie to start dragging him towards the school, but his mind was back with his two absent friends.

******VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV**  


Kairi felt her heart skip a beat when she found Sora's boat tied tightly to the dock where it was the prior day. Kairi jumped into the shallow water, ignored the fact that she didn't tie up her boat and started running. She scanned the area in front of her, looking for any sign of the boy she was looking for.

She ducked into their Secret Place but he wasn't there. She refused to give up but her constant running eventually caught up to her and she needed to stop for a moment.

"Kairi," Namine said suddenly, startling Kairi as she appeared in front of her. Namine was usually quiet and rarely ever talked to her Other, but recently she had been showing up and making herself more and more known. "I think you're searching the wrong way."

"What?" Kairi asked.

"I can still feel Roxas," the blond girl replied. "It's stronger than when we were at your house. They're here somewhere. Search with your heart, not your eyes."

Kairi stared at her Nobody before closing her eyes, if Namine could so easily sense Roxas, then it made sense that she would be able to feel Sora just as easily. She stood there for a moment until she felt a tug at her heart. Her eyes flew open and she started running wordlessly, her Nobody keeping up with her but not vanishing yet.

She could have been running with her eyes closed for all it mattered. Finally she saw something in the distance, a large lump on the ground. Namine gasped as they drew close enough to see it's features and Kairi let out a scream.

"Sora!"

She dropped down beside him and carefully rolled him over onto his back. There was a large, dark bump on her head that was caked with blood. He didn't stir as she moved him and fear coursed through her body.

She leaned down and listened for a heartbeat, breathing, anything! She thanked Zeus, Santa, and everyone else in all the worlds when she found both.

"What happened?" Namine asked, but Kairi knew she wasn't expecting an answer. Roxas didn't appear, so she knew that Sora was deeply unconscious.

Tears started streaking down Kairi's cheeks as she whispered, "Sora, Sora please wake up. Please Sora."

"Kairi," Namine whispered as she started to vanish. "Call Riku. You need to get him to a hospital."

Kairi gently laid Sora's head in her lap and quickly hauled out her cellphone. Common sense would have made her dial 911, not Riku, but common since wasn't something she (or Namine for that matter) possessed at the moment.

******VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV**  


Riku didn't jump or make any obvious motion as his cellphone vibrated in his pocket. He continued staring at his dull teacher before quickly raising his hand, asking to be excused. The teacher didn't even notice that he had grabbed his books to take with him. The only one that did was Selphie.

The ringing stopped so Riku picked up his pace. He got to the male's bathroom and flipped his phone open keeping a calm face when he saw that it was Kairi who had called him. He quickly dialed her number and she answered right away.

"R-Riku," she choked out between sobs.

He felt panic prickle through him and said, "What's the matter Kairi?"

"I f-found Sora," she sobbed. "No one knew where he was. I'm on the island and he's unconscious and bleeding and I—"

"I'll be there as soon as possible," Riku replied quickly. "Keep something pressed to the wound, alright?"

He could hear Kairi sob again but she didn't reply, just clicked her phone shut.

Riku didn't hesitate to run out of the school, almost colliding with the principal on his way out. All he knew was that his friends needed help and they needed it now.

**  
VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV  
**

Kairi kept the edge of her skirt pressed gently to Sora's head. She rocked him back and forth slightly and was singing under her breath. A small groan escaped Sora's lips, but he didn't wake up.

Suddenly Roxas appeared in front of Kairi, startling her badly enough to cause her to yelp. He looked at her and then at Namine, who had also appeared.

"Roxas, what happened?" Namine asked while placing a hand on his shoulder.

"I can't remember," Roxas admitted. "That's locked in the part of Sora's mind that still unconscious."

Kairi was about to ask him another question when they heard the sounds of footsteps running towards them. Distantly they heard someone yelling Kairi's name.

The girl in question looked around with fear in her eyes before noticing that both Roxas and Namine had vanished again. She turned her head in the direction of the voice until she saw Riku appear on the path, running in the opposite direction.

"Riku!" she yelled out.

He slid to a stop and turned around, running towards her now. She was slightly surprised when her father, as well as her mother and Sora's mother made their way behind him.

Ayame let out a small sob when she saw her son and knelt down next to him, placing a hand on his arm. She didn't say anything, but her body shook as she controlled her tears and kept her emotions as quiet as possible.

Daisuke knelt down and said, "We need to get him to a hospital, that bump looks pretty bad and I'm positive that he'll have a concussion from smashing his head on that rock."

Kairi whimpered lightly as her dad took the young man out of her arms. Her father grunted a bit under Sora's weight and muttered, "He's heavier than I remember."

Riku came over to steady the middle-aged man and they started speed walking back to the docks where the Yamada family's semi-large boat was waiting.

Kairi felt hopelessness weld up in her chest as her mother encouraged her and Mrs. Hikari to get up. They quickly walked after the boys, the entire time Kairi felt as if she were in a nightmare.

'Please be ok,' Kairi thought to Sora, hoping that, somehow, he could hear her. 'Please Sora! I swear I won't nag at you anymore for school or anything. Please just be alright.'

******VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV**  


**Author's Note**

Poor Sora, I'm so mean to him…and things aren't going to get any better for out spiky haired hero and I love Sora to death. He's such an underdog compared to Riku.

For starters I guess I should say thank you to the people that reviewed:

Iaveina, A-dizzle and ffkingdom. Thanks for the reviews. Although nobody's every threatened to 'come at me like a spidermonkey' if I didn't update soon. Hmm…haha

Keep the feedback coming and I'll try to update quickly around my school schedule, that's if I can continue to survive JavaScript every morning.

Just remember everyone, this is my first Kingdom Hearts story and the first time I've left my comfort zone of HP.

_**Krystal Lily Potter**_


	5. Savin' Me

**Shadows of a Dream**

_**Chapter Four – Savin' Me**_

Sora was standing in the darkness again. He had tried to call out to Roxas many times but he could never find him. It was cold and his head was throbbing painfully. He tried calling his Keyblade, but to no avail.

He suddenly felt his knees go weak and he was kneeling on the ground. The pain in his head seemed to trail down his body, causing him to sink into a world of pain.

He squeezed his eyes shut and went to move his hands to his head, only to find he couldn't. Startled, he looked at his hands and saw that they were slowly starting to turn into a sparkling crystal.

Panic flooded over his body as he tried to stand but his legs were also starting to change. A sinister giggle was heard and he looked around wildly while ignoring the shooting pain in his head.

"Poor Keyblade Master, nowhere to go, no way to move," a female's voice whispered.

"Who are you?" he managed to call out, wincing as a surge of pain went through his body.

"Wouldn't you like to know?" A figure appeared in front of him. He could only see the silhouette of the person, and it was just enough to tell him that he was indeed dealing with a female (you never know, a guy might easily sound like a girl. It wouldn't have been the weirdest thing he ever came across).

She moved around him in a circle, but never once could he see any of her features. His body continued turning into crystal, but even the parts that were solid hurt.

As if picking up on his thoughts she said, "You like how I can turn you to crystal and keep the pain going through you? It's genius really. I could shatter your arm and you would feel it all."

"What do you want?" he choked out.

"Nothing much," she said with a shrug. "But I know that you've been a nuisance to everyone else so I thought I'd show you why I'm not to be tried with.

Sora felt his eyes water but he did not cry. He wouldn't give her the satisfaction of seeing that. Her taunts and giggles continued as his torso started to crystallize.

"Sora…"

His head snapped up and looked around with confusion. The shadow woman's taunts stopped as she froze in her tracks.

"Sora, please wake up."

"Kairi?" he whispered.

"Please Sora, don't leave me now. If you die you'll break my heart. What happened to not wanting to ever put me in danger? Without you here I am in danger. Please. Don't break my heart, and don't cause Roxas to break Namine's."

Tears streaked down Sora's cheeks now, landing on his crystallized arms. The shadow woman gasped as the crystal started to glow. He jerked his arm roughly and broke free. The same happened with his legs and the rest of his body. He stood up and looked around again when a blinding light entered his vision.

He heard the shadow yell in pain and then panic as he started running towards the door of light.

"No!" he heard the shadow yell in anger as he went through the door and then everything faded away.

**VVVVVVVVVVVVVV**

"Is Ayame Hikari here?" a strict looking doctor asked as he walked in the room.

Sora's mother jumped to her feet and said, "Yes. My son, he is alright?"

"Yes, he'll be fine but—" his eyes glanced at Kairi and Riku, who were still there even though Kairi's parents had gone home.

"It's alright," Ayame insisted. "You can say whatever you want in front of them. Kairi and Riku are Sora's best friends so they'll fine out whatever it is anyway."

The doctor cleared his throat and said, "Very well. You're son will be fine, but he's unconscious right now. You say he was found on the island? That's curious because I know there are few animals over on that specific island and it looks as if…"

"As if?"

"There are fresh claw marks around your son's leg, Mrs. Hikari," the doctor said. He led the three of them into the room Sora was in. Kairi gasped and rushed to her friend's side while taking his hand. Riku came up beside her and Ayame stood with the doctor.

He reached down and moved the pale blue blanket that covered Sora. Carefully he removed the band around Sora's ankle to show them. Sure enough there were claw marks on his leg.

"It looks almost like something grabbed him, causing him to fall," the doctor said. "But that's not what worries me the most about him. Yes, the bump was a bad one, and the scratches are peculiar, but what worries me is the amount of old injuries he has."

"Old injuries?"

Riku jolted lightly, a slight panicked look crossing over his face. It took Kairi a moment but then she realized where these injuries had probable come from. It was foolish to think that, when fighting Heartless and Nobodies, he had come out completely unscathed.

The doctor showed Ayame the small scars on Sora's arms and legs, informing her that there were some bigger ones as well. Apparently there was a large mark on his back where he had no doubt been burned that ran from his right shoulder down to his left hip.

"There is one, however, that is particularly worrisome," Kairi heard the doctor say. "Because of both it's location and it's severity."

She blanked out after that, knowing very well what scar they were probably talking about. She had never even though about it before, but stabbing yourself through the heart would definitely leave a mark behind.

Sure enough, the doctor lifted up Sora's loose shirt and there it was: a large gash on his chest where he had stabbed the dark Keyblade into his heart to save her. Kairi felt Riku's body tense beside her and remembered that he hadn't actually seen Sora stab himself. He knew that it happened but still, seeing the proof right in front of him was a little overwhelming.

"I—" Ayame said. "I don't understand."

"It appears that someone or something attempted to stab your son," the doctor said. "This wound, however, appears old."

"He was gone," she explained slowly. "Gone for a year and a half. No one knew where he was, not even me. He hasn't told me much, just that he traveled a lot." Her eyes turned to Riku. "Do you, either of you, know what could have happened?"

"No," Riku answered firmly. "I only met up with Sora just before we got back home."

Kairi shook her head, staring at her friend. Her hand clasped onto his a little tighter.

The doctor stared at them thoughtfully then said, "If you could come with me for a moment Mrs. Hikari."

She nodded and said, "Riku, Kairi, stay with him for me?" They both nodded in reply.

After the door closed tightly Riku said, "I didn't know he had a scar from it."

"Neither did I," Kairi whispered. "But thinking back, it should have been obvious that there was one."

"So, this is how I was created."

Riku and Kairi both jumped as Roxas appeared on the other side of the bed. He looked at Sora thoughtfully, but said nothing more. Namine appeared beside him and said, "You knew how you were created Roxas. I was created at the exact same moment in time as you were too."

"I knew that Sora lost his heart at one point of time and that you were somehow released from that instance as well," he countered. "I didn't know how. I didn't know that he sacrificed himself. I thought maybe a Heartless…"

"Is he really ok?" Kairi managed to ask Roxas. He looked a little startled so she said, "You're part of Sora so I assumed that you would know."

"Well," Roxas said hesitantly. "I know he's alright in the same way you do but—I'm not sure otherwise. I tried to communicate with him again but it's like his mind is shrouded in darkness. I can't actually find him anywhere in his head."

"Can you try again?" Kairi asked.

Roxas nodded but before he could go back into Sora Namine grabbed his arm. She had a thoughtful look on her face before saying, "I'm going with you."

"What?" everyone in the room asked (sans Sora).

"Kairi and Sora's hearts are connected," she said slowly. "We already know that. So that would mean that I'm also connected to him in a way. I don't think I could do this with anyone else, but I'm nearly positive that I can go with Roxas into Sora's mind."

"Do it," Kairi said quickly. "Or try at least."

"Better two than one," Riku agreed. "I imagine Sora's got a lot of empty space in his head."

The two said nothing, but Kairi clearly saw Roxas roll his eyes before he and Namine started to glow and both of them vanished into Sora.

Kairi shivered, causing Riku to send her a confused look.

"I never realized how alone I feel without Namine there," she admitted. "And without Sora here."

**VVVVVVVVVVVVVV**

Sora was walking through the darkness, unable to see where he was going. He felt as if he was wandering around for hours on end, but luckily he didn't meet up with the shadow from earlier.

"Sora!" he heard a voice call.

"Sora where are you?" another one yelled.

He rushed towards the voices and said, "Riku? Kairi?"

He heard footsteps running towards him and winced as a blinding light once again appeared in front of him. His eyes readjusted and he didn't see Riku and Kairi in front of him, but what he did see also made his heart leap. "Roxas! Namine!"

Both the blond Nobodies smiled in relief and held out their hands silently. Sora grasped Roxas' in one hand and Namine's in the other before his world turned white, and slowly the vision of a hospital room appeared before him.

**VVVVVVVVVVVVVV**

Kairi's eyes snapped to Sora's face as she felt his hand finally grip hers back tightly. She felt Namine inside of her again and gasped happily as Sora slowly opened his eyes.

"Sora!" she cried out and hugged him tightly.

"Hi Kairi, hey Riku," he said weakly. "Where am I?"

"In the hospital idiot," Riku snapped. "What were you thinking? Hurting yourself at night with no one knowing where you were!"

Sora grinned lightly before frowning and saying, "There was a Heartless. It was so tiny and it screamed for help. It was the worst sound I ever heard. I tried to get back to the main island, I even ran towards it, but another Heartless grabbed my leg and I fell."

"You slammed your head into a rock," Kairi muttered. "And you were unconscious. Roxas and Namine went to find you in your own mind."

Sora closed his eyes for a moment before saying, "It's coming back. She wanted me out of the way and I—god this isn't over yet."

"What isn't over?"

Sora loosely held out his hand and for a moment the Kingdom Key appeared before vanishing and said, "Our use for these."

**VVVVVVVVVVVVVV**

**Author's Note**

Since today is my friend's birthday, and she loves Kingdom Hearts I decided to update this earlier than I expected to. Power writing people, it's something that happens only once and awhile and it's happening to me right now.

So thank you to everyone who reviewed! Iaveina, BreUchiha15, A-dizzle and Demonically Angelic Neko88.

I know, this is a tiny bit confusing but so is my mind at all times of day.

Oh and Kairi and Namine aren't crybabies, they just found the person they love with his head smashed…wow that was the most awkward sentence I think I've ever written (don't refer back to my old HP stories to try and prove me wrong because I know you will win).

So tell me how you think I'm doing and maybe leave a suggestion or two because where I do have most things planned out already I'm up to changing some things around.

See ya all next time, eh?

_**Krystal Lily Potter**_


	6. Never Too Late

**Shadows of A Dream**

**Chapter Five – Never Too Late**

Sora sat glumly in the uncomfortable chair, his eyes not focused on the speaking man in front of him. His head was wrapped in bandages still, so he wouldn't irritate the stitches there, and it still throbbed slightly. Added onto the fact that he had no interest about what this man had to say to him, his mind naturally started to wander. Instead he focused his eyes on the open window and out at the tropical world outside. He wished that he could just get up and go for a walk (preferably with the recently very agreeable Kairi), but he knew that he was under constant supervision. How he hated in-school suspension. Although, it made more since that way because what would have been the point of suspending him for skipping school? The principal was about to do that when his mother pointed out the flaw in that plan.

His mother, she was another thorn in his side at the moment. After his accident she fretted over him and never left him alone, and as a result she walked in on him speaking to Roxas aloud once. Fortunately, or maybe it was unfortunate, the blond Nobody hadn't been visible at the time. His mother quickly left the room and started looking up counselors to send him to but he told her that he was just ranting to himself. She had been skeptical but chose not to push it but instead insisted that he see the guidance counselor every day. She was a little worried that he had hit his head a little too hard.

"Sora, have you been listening to me?" the man asked suddenly. Sora snapped out of his thoughts and shifted his vision slightly to Mr. Gates. The man's calm brown eyes pierced Sora's cerulean ones for a moment before looking away, almost unnerved. Sora knew this man well; he had been a friend of his mother's for along time. Sora also had a large amount of dislike for this man because he was constantly attempting to date Sora's rather stubborn (thank god) mother.

"No," he answered honestly.

Mr. Gates sighed and pulled out a file. Sora knew this was his report cards, attendance records, detention slips and various other things that he had accumulated over the years.

He raised an eyebrow as Mr. Gates set it in front of him and asked, "Do you see this?"

"What am I supposed to be looking at?" the part of the holder that the man was holding up was almost empty.

"The non-existence detention slips," Mr. Gates said firmly. "Also the very few lates and absences. These early files for you were filled with many student activities and excellent report cards. Now do you see all of this?" He motioned to the sleeves filled with detention slips. "These have been accumulated in the past half a year since you've been home. Your grades have falling drastically and your attendance is dreadful."

"I guess I just don't want to be here," Sora said with a shrug.

"Why not?"

"I'm just restless."

That was a new answer and Mr. Gates noted it before asking, "Sora, if you don't mind me asking, what happened to you that year and a half that you were gone? Riku was gone just as long as you but he's falling back into his old pattern no problem. Why are you struggling with it so much?"

Sora glanced out the window in thought. He didn't have enough time left in the school day to explain how much he had changed and why.

'_I could talk to him,' _Roxas joked. _'Then he'd really see why you're so different.'_

Sora smiled slightly and thought, _'No need to freak him right out. Maybe I should just tell him that I've got another being running around in my head.'_

'_That would call for a one-way ticket to the nut house my friend,'_ Roxas replied.

Sora shut out his Nobody for the time being and said, "Well I'm not Riku, am I? I've never been as…calm and collected about everything. Since when is he a shrink?" He winced, not meaning to say that out loud. He had meant to say it to Roxas and hoped that Mr. Gates wouldn't notice the slip up.

"I'm not Sora," the man said. Thank god he didn't catch the 'when is he' instead of 'when are you' that would have been called for in the situation. "However, maybe—"

"I'm not going to a shrink," Sora mumbled. "I'm not crazy."

"I never said you were," Mr. Gates said while pushing his glasses back on his face. "Maybe you need to talk things out with someone though. You won't open up to your mother anymore and I've heard that you've been closing your friends off more and more."

"I have people to talk to," Sora said while crossing his arms defensively.

'_I don't think I count buddy,'_ Roxas muttered. _'At least not without you going to the loony bin.'_

"Tell me Sora, do you have any reason why you might have developed the pattern of skipping school?" Mr. Gates asked. "You've already seen the problems that can arise when no one knows where you are." He was referring to the bandages on his head.

Sora stared at him and said, "I don't belong here anymore. I've traveled to so many places and I just…don't fit in."

"You're restless? Something tells me that's not the only reason you've changed," Me. Gates said.

"I'm just, not the same person," Sora said with a shrug. Relief shot through him as the bell rang, setting him free. He grabbed his book bag off the floor and started to wards the door.

"Sora," Mr. Gates said sternly, causing him to flinch as his hand rested on the door. He slowly turned around and saw the older man walking towards him with a slip of paper in his hand. "I want you to give this to Ayame."

Sora grabbed it from him and darted out of the door, not bothering to look at the slip of paper that had been passed to him. Although he did manage to send Gates a rather intimidating glare at calling his mother 'Ayame' as if he was dating her, which he definitely was not!

**VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV**

Sora stopped running when he was about half way to his house. He breathed roughly before stretching out and pulling at his blue plaid tie. He reached into his pocket and pulled out the slip of paper and read it.

His blue eyes widened and he started to shake with anger.

'_Ooooh boy,'_ he heard Roxas mutter. _'Sorry, looks like I do make you out to be crazy.'_

"It is my impression that, after much observation, that you're son is slowly suffering through mental regression. It worries me personally as I knew Sora as a child, but it appears that he is in the early stage of –" Sora froze half way through the note. "He thinks I'm completely crazy!"

"You are talking to yourself."

Sora whipped around and jumped back a bit when he found Kairi standing less than a foot away from him. His heart was racing as he dropped the letter to the ground and said, "Give me a break Kairi! You almost gave me a heart attack!"

She laughed and brushed her dark red hair out of her eyes. She studied him for a moment before bending down and picking up the note.

"No!"

It was too late. Her indigo eyes raced over the page, widening as she read what was written on it. Kairi quickly looked up at him and said, "Sora, I'm sorry! I didn't know that—well—"

"It's alright Kai," he said while taking the note back from her. "Everyone's just over-reacting. I'm not crazy."

Tears welded up in her eyes and, much to his surprise, she threw her arms around him, resting her forehead on his shoulder. Sora hesitantly wrapped his arms around her as she said, "I shouldn't have yelled at you about ditching school. God, I've been so stupid. You needed help and all I cared about was your grades. When I found you in the forest I was so scared that I was going to lose you."

He hugged her a little tighter, resting his chin on the top of her hair as she asked, "It's Roxas, right? The one you've been talking to?"

"I usually don't speak out loud," Sora admitted. "I've slipped up a few times though when I'm talking to someone else and then Roxas right afterwards. Does that ever happen with you and Namine?"

"She doesn't talk to me much," Kairi said after a moment. "She's quiet but when she does talk I have to remind myself not to speak out loud. It's strange though, she's been talking more than usual lately."

Sora backed away slightly and stared down at her. She looked up slowly and said, "There's something else bothering you, isn't there?"

"There are a lot of things bothering me," he replied. He frowned and said, "Something's coming Kai, I can feel it in me. I've already had two dreams and I've seen Heartless."

"You're not leaving me again!" Sora was surprised at how strong her voice was. He felt her grip on him tighten until there was no room for sunlight to pass in between them.

"If something happens I have to go, you know that as well as I do."

She shook her head viciously and said, "That's not what I meant. I know if something happens that you have to leave. I want to go with you. I have a Keyblade just like you and Riku. You've been training me and even said I was pretty good!"

Sora stared at her before blinking several times. He wanted to object to tell her that it was too dangerous, but then he realized that he really had no right to do so. She was not only a wielder of a Keyblade but she was a Princess of Heart as well and it was true, he had complimented her on her ability to use her keyblade.

Kairi was about to growl at him again but instead she found it impossible as her lips were occupied with something else, or rather someone else. Sora wasn't sure what possessed him to kiss Kairi, let alone on the lips, but he did. Much to his shock she responded eagerly.

They broke away from one another, and a blush appeared on both of their faces. Kairi giggled and hugged him tightly before saying, "I'll take that as a yes."

"I don't want you to go," he admitted slowly. "But I know that I have no right to stop you. You have a Keyblade, hell you're a princess, and as much as I'd like you to be safe I know it's up for you to decide."

Kairi leaned in and gave him a small peck on the lips before jumping at the sound of her cellphone ringing. She cursed under her breath before answering it, "Hello? Hi mom. Yeah. Yes. I'm with Sora. Yes he was at school. Mom! Alright I'll be home in a minute." She sighed angrily and snapped the phone shut. "I have to go, but remember, you're not leaving without me."

"Wouldn't dream of it," he replied with a grin as he squeezed her hand tightly. She blushed and let go, dashing off in the other direction.

Sora stared at her retreating figure and quietly whooped with happiness.

'_Good going,'_ Roxas said. _"Namine and I were impressed."_

Sora laughed but said nothing to his Nobody as he cheerfully headed towards home, forgetting all about his problems for the moment.

**VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV**

**Author's Note**

There you go, a Sora/Kairi moment. And yes, everyone on Destiny Islands thinks that Kairi's adorable (unless you get her angry), Sora's completely crazy and Riku's very elusive.

Thank you to Iaveina, ffkingdom and Demonically Angelic Neko88 for reviewing!

Any questions? Comments? Suggestions? Concerns? Just give me a shout! If you just wanted to send an email it's at the bottom of my profile.

See ya'll later

_**Krystal Lily Potter**_


	7. Falling

**Shadows of a Dream**

_**Chapter Six - Falling**_

A shatter and a scream woke Kairi from her sleep. Panic shot through her as she got up and looked out the window. There was nothing interesting outside but still she went and pulled on her pink tank top with a pair of black shorts. She made sure to attach her small pack to her side with some medical items as well as the Oathkeeper keychain that Sora had given back to her.

She slowly walked out of her room after slipping on a pair of white socks and shoes. She carefully listened for anything else suspicious when she realized something: it wasn't calm outside, it was just completely black and she couldn't see out.

Kairi quickly wrenched open the front door and let out a scream as a Heartless tackled her to the ground. Her eyes were wide but she quickly called her Keyblade and slammed it away from her. Jumping to her feet she ran out of the door, whacking at the Heartless that were jumping out at her. The sight that met her eyes was terrible.

Houses were wrecked, people were bloody and beaten, and there were hundreds of Heartless everywhere.

"Kairi!" her mother's voice screamed out at her.

She twisted around, continuing to slay anything that jumped at her. Her eyes landed on her mother before she screamed, "Get back inside!"

Her father was already rushing towards her, but before he could get too close to him a group of Heartless attacked him.

Kairi let out a scream and tried to run back to him but ended up being tackled to the ground. She saw her mother running towards her father, but then all she could see was the yellow eyes of another Heartless coming towards her.

"Get away from her!"

All of the Heartless were destroyed with one quick movement and Kairi felt herself being yanked off of the ground. Sora held one arm around her tightly and the other held the Oblivion Keyblade, slamming it into anything that came close to them.

"Mom! Dad!" Kairi screamed, turning around to get to her parents. There was nothing there.

"No, please," Kairi whispered. "No! Daddy! Mom!" Tears streaked down her cheeks and she forgot all about using her Keyblade.

"Kairi, we have to move," Sora said, trying to haul her alone but she would have none of it.

"No!"

Sora fought with her for a few more minutes but she kept struggling against him and refused to move. Reluctantly he reached up and said, "Sorry Kai." He whispered something, and there was a quick glow from his hand and the girl fell unconscious in his arms.

He picked her up and started running. He had her slung over his left shoulder, steadying her with his arm and swinging his Keyblade with his right.

**VVVVVVVVVVVVVVV**

Riku's emerald green eyes looked around in panic. He didn't know where he two friends were and the Heartless seemed to be doubling by the second. Suddenly he heard his name being called.

Whipping around he saw Sora running towards him, clearing a way with his weapon and Kairi over his shoulder.

"What happened?" Riku called out.

"Had to put her to sleep," Sora called back.

"Why?"

Sora just shook his head and motioned to Riku to run. They did but neither of them knew where to go. The Heartless were literally everywhere! Even the ocean was comprised of Heartless now.

"We are so screwed," Riku muttered as he stood beside Sora. The brown haired boy said nothing in return but gripped the girl in his arms a little tighter.

"Riku, Sora, what's going on?"

They both saw Selphie, Wakka and Tidus manage to avoid the Heartless and were running towards them. With the three were a couple children they had run into.

Riku didn't know what to say, and before Sora could try to explain another voice said, "I can get us out of here, but I'm not sure where we'll end up."

Everyone jumped. The voice appeared to be coming from Sora but he hadn't actually moved his mouth at all. Roxas then walked out of Sora's body and said, "I can only do it if you let me access your magic Sora. Unfortunately for me, I'm useless without that."

"Yeah," Sora replied, nodding his head. "Do it."

"What about the rest of the island?" Riku managed to get out.

Sora looked around reluctantly and said, "There's nothing we can do now, not with what we've got at the moment."

All the others were eyeing Roxas skeptically and all of them looked rather stunned when he held up his ghost-like hand and a black and purple vortex appeared in front of them. He glanced at them quickly before saying, "We have to get in and out fast. Who knows what's actually happening in the darkness."

Sora nodded and said, "Whatever you do, don't be afraid and don't stop walking, alright?"

Selphie, Tidus, Wakka and the several children with them nodded and followed as Sora walked through the portal. Riku came up the back of the group in order to make sure no one attacked them from behind.

Roxas walked beside Sora as they entered the darkness and then gasped in shock at something. Turning to face his Nobody, Sora watched Roxas fall to the ground in pain before vanishing. "Roxas?"

His Nobody didn't answer him, and he couldn't feel his presence. Panic arose in Sora as many glowing portals of light started opening around them.

"Where do we go?" Selphie cried out.

Riku and Sora exchanged a glance but then Riku felt panic flash through him and Sora's eyes started to droop a little. The brunet quickly shook his head and tried to take a step forward when pain shot through his body.

The same look of agony that they had seen pass over Roxas' face claimed Sora's before he stumbled and ended up falling backwards through one of the glowing portals with Kairi still over his shoulder.

Riku let out a yell and tried to grab his friends, or to go after them, but neither option was possible as the second Sora fell through the portal it vanished.

"No!" he yelled.

"Riku," Tidus managed to say. Riku turned around and saw Nobodies appearing and twisting in the air.

"Through here," he said and pointed to a random portal. Everyone listened to him and ran through. He cast a look back at the place where Sora and Kairi vanished into before running in after everyone else.

**VVVVVVVVVVVVVVV**

**Author's Note**

Yes, I know this chapter is a little shorter than I usually write but I was in a hurry to finish this chapter to get onto the next one. Why? Because it's a new world! I am such a Disney junkie! Most of these worlds will go by fast…as in one maybe two chapters so this doesn't get up to 100 some chapters. Thanks for the reviews and tell me what ya think!

_**Krystal Lily Potter**_


	8. Over My Head

**Shadows of a Dream**

_**Chapter Seven – Over My Head**_

Kairi slowly opened her eyes, only to find her face buried into dark fabric. She moved her head a bit and turned it slightly, seeing that it was a black vest with several silver clasps and some red and blue lining. She knew only one person that had a vest like that. She pushed herself up a bit and sure enough she found herself laying in Sora's arms. He was unconscious and for a moment she was worried that he wasn't breathing.

She moved slightly and winced at the pain that had exploded in her leg but ignored it for the moment. She leaned down, resting her head over where his heart was and sighed in relief when she felt his heart beating and when she felt his warm breath against her hair.

Kairi went to move off of him, but the pain in her leg seemed to have migrated to her arm. She let out a cry of pain this time and ended up falling back onto Sora roughly. She moved her leg slightly and pain flashed through it again. Looks like she wasn't lucky to have a pain that migrated through her body but two injuries instead she thought bitterly.

At her cry of pain Sora started to stir, and when she fell on him his eyes snapped open. He looked down at her and asked, "Are you alright?" He wished he hadn't spoken though, because the pain in his head threatened to knock him unconscious again.

Her eyes widened at his obvious pain and she said, "My right leg and my left arm hurt. I can't put any pressure on them or move them. Are you alright?"

Sora nodded and once again wished he hadn't. Carefully, shoving her right arm and left leg lightly so he wasn't touching her injured ones, he moved her off of him and sat up. His vision swam in front of him for a moment before it cleared and he realized that they were in a forest, a very dead forest.

Sora carefully stood up and then reached down and scooped Kairi into his arms. She protested but he said, "You can't walk and I can't help you walk because I'll hurt your arm."

"You're in pain too," she said and gently rested her hand on the side of his head.

"I'll be fine," he said while looking around. "But I don't know where we are."

"You've never been here?"

"No."

She leaned her head on his shoulder until a gasp escaped her throat and she said, "Sora? My mom? Dad? What happened to everyone?"

"Roxas opened a portal," he explained. "Like Namine did to get us out of The World That Never Was. But something happened when we were in the darkness. Roxas looked like he was in pain and vanished and then hundreds of light portals opened around us so we had no clue where to go then…all I remember is pain and everything went black."

"What happened to my parents?" she asked again, a little more forcefully.

Sora looked away from her as he continued to walk through the path in the forest. "They're gone Kairi," he said hesitantly. "My best guess is that they're Heartless now. A few people got away with us like Selphie, Wakka and Tidus, but I have no clue where anyone is now. They obviously didn't go through the same portal we did."

Kairi didn't say anything, but as she buried her head in the crook of his neck he felt her tears.

As he kept walking his the pain in his head continued to increase and he still couldn't feel Roxas. His injury from before was still there and whatever had happened inside of the darkness wasn't helping any.

"Are you sure you're alright?" Kairi said after about a half-an hour of walking.

"Yeah," he reassured, knowing well that he was lying through his teeth. "Why?"

"You're heart is beating faster than normal," she replied. "And you're breathing is uneven."

Sora stopped walking and his blue eyes looked into hers. They stayed like that for a moment until Sora unexpected lurched forward and fell to his knees. Kairi let out a small scream of surprise and winced as he bumped her injured leg.

He managed to set her gently on the ground before falling over to his side. His eyes closed and his body started to twitch and shake.

"Sora," Kairi gasped. She knew that holding down a person having a seizure was something that she definitely should not do, but aside from that she had no clue what to do. They were in the middle of a dead forest with nothing and no one around them.

She started sobbing, not sure what she was supposed to do.

"Oh goodness!" a soft voice said. "See, I told you there was a reason to be out here."

Kairi twisted around and her eyes widened before she said, "Snow White?"

The black-haired young woman nodded as she ran over. Two of the dwarves ran behind her quickly.

"Sora," Snow White whispered.

"I don't know what's wrong with him," Kairi choked out.

"We need to get him back," Snow White said. Suddenly her name was called out in the forest. Everyone turned and saw the Prince come out of the trees.

"We need to help him," Snow White said to him quickly. "He's the Keybearer."

The Prince nodded his head and quickly moved to their side. Sora had stopped all movements and was simply laying on the ground at this time. The Prince managed to pick him up and Snow White carefully helped Kairi off of the ground. The pain was almost unbearable but thoughts of helping Sora allowed her to ignore it.

**VVVVVVVVVVVVVV**

Sora slowly opened his eyes and found himself staring at a wooden ceiling. Confusion coursed through him as he slowly sat but fell back into the soft bed quickly.

"Sora."

He looked up and gasped in surprise when he saw Snow White standing over him. Worry was etched on her pale face and she asked, "Are you alright?"

"I don't know," he said after a moment. Suddenly his eyes darted around and he asked, "Where's Kairi?"

"I'm right here," came her reply. She came over and he noticed that her arm was wrapped in a sling and that she didn't seem to have anymore pain in her leg. A huge smile appeared on her face as she sat next to him and said, "You scared me so much Sora."

"I'm sorry," he replied. "I don't know what's happening. I still can't feel Roxas, and that's bothering me more than anything."

"Roxas?" Snow White asked curiously.

"His Nobody," another voice said before Kairi could answer. Namine stood beside her Other, staring at Sora with a grim expression. She moved forward and rested a transparent hand onto his head before saying, "There's been a darkness purposefully planted in you, probably when you were knocked out back on the island. It's trying to destroy your powers. I can see it because instead of attacking you directly it went at Roxas by mistake."

"So he's being suppressed by Darkness?" Sora asked slowly.

"It's pretty much like suffocating yourself," Namine explained. "I've seen it happen only once before and that was an experiment that Xenmas did on Axel."

"How did you stop Axel from dying?" Sora asked. Kairi's hand latched onto his tightly at his question.

"Roxas helped me," she explained. "It was the first time I had met him and Axel. Actually that was how they became friends too. I can do it, but I'll need help."

"I can do it," Kairi said quickly.

"No you can't," Namine replied. "I have to use your magic to do it. Both of us at the same time sapping your magic could kill you, and since I'm the one that knows how to do it that kind of rules you out."

Kairi frowned but nodded her head. Sora squeezed her hand comfortingly and she smiled lightly at him.

"I'll do it," Snow White said. As a Princess of Heart she too had a large amount of light magic in her. "What do I need to do?"

"Put your hands over his heart and I'll do the same," Namine explained. "What you're going to do is imagine a dark weapon in your head and focus your light on it and imagine the light destroying it. You have no idea how long it took Roxas and I to discover how to do this with Axel. Sora, I'm not going to lie to you, this is going to hurt a lot."

He nodded his head and Kairi gripped his hand a little tighter. He closed his eyes as he felt Snow White place her hands on his chest and he could feel the magic behind Namine's ghostly touch. Through his closed eyes he could see the light coming from them, then the agony came.

He yelled out in pain and he felt like he was dying from the inside out. He tried to move away from the hands over his heart where the power that caused this dreadful pain came from, but Kairi's grip on him stopped him from moving.

Suddenly another loud, painful scream sounded, echoing with Sora's. It was a voice that Namine and Kairi knew, and that voice allowed them to breathe a sigh of relief at the knowledge that it was working.

Snow White shook and wanted to bring her hands away from the convulsing young man, but she knew that he would be hurt worse in the long run if she didn't help. Her dark brown eyes turned to Kairi, who was sobbing quietly while pressing down on his shoulders to keep him in one place. Snow White felt her heart break at the sight of her fellow princess so sad.

'_S-So-Sora?'_

'_Roxas,'_ Sora replied mentally. He felt relief flood over him before a final, very painful flash went through him as a dark shadow was literally ripped out of his body. Sora only had the time to notice that the shadow vaguely resembled a sword before falling unconscious again.

**VVVVVVVVVVVVVV**

"So that's are only Dopey, Doc, and Grumpy are up and about?"

"Yes, it was terrible. They started in the castle and killed as many as possible before the Prince sent me to hide with the dwarves. He only showed up a day before you and hasn't said anything about the castle."

"That's terrible."

"I know. I fear the worst Kairi."

Sora slowly squinted and groaned slightly. He heard Roxas echo the noise in his head. Relief flooded through him when he felt his Nobody, but then the anxiety hit him. He braved himself for the pain from his head, but it never came.

Instead he felt something soft, warm and hard pressing against it. Sora opened his eyes the rest of the war and found himself staring directly into Kairi's eyes as she gently pressed her forehead to his.

He smiled slightly and said, "Hey."

Tears welded up in her eyes but didn't fall as she said, "Hey."

They continued staring at one another until they heard a giggle behind Kairi. She moved slightly and Sora glanced at Snow White, who stared at them with a small smile on her ruby red lips.

Sora carefully sat up, and found that there wasn't a trace of pain in his body anywhere. A huge grin appeared on his face as he said, "It's gone! All of the pain is gone!"

Kairi laughed happily and hugged him tightly as she said, "I was so scared. When Namine and Snow White used their magic you started screaming, and then we actually heard Roxas start screaming too."

"I'm ok," he replied gently while placing his hand on her cheek. Slowly he tore his gaze away from her and said, "Thank you Namine and thank you Snow White. It did hurt but it was worth it. There must be something I can do to thank you."

Snow White frowned and said, "Of course not. You've already done so much for all of us princesses by giving us back our hearts and saving Kingdom Hearts."

"I heard you two talking about something before I woke up. Maybe I can help you with that problem."

Snow White hesitated before she answered, "The castle where I lived with the Prince was attacked by Nobodies. It was horrible! They killed everyone they came across. The Prince sent me out here with the dwarves but we were attacked. They forced me to hide when these two people in black clothes showed up. One of them, a male grabbed Sleepy and Happy and tried to take him when the female one slapped him and called him an idiot. He threw them down and told the Nobodies to finish them off. Luckily they all managed to get away before the Nobodies showed up."

Sora looked down and said, "They sound like Organization XIII."

"You finished them all off though," Kairi replied.

"I wonder what they were doing," Sora said after a moment. "To try and capture someone and then change their mind is a little strange."

"What's strange is that they're killing people instead of trying to take hearts. They can't be Organization people," Roxas said as he appeared. "Trust me on that."

If Snow White was startled at his sudden appearance she didn't show it. Instead a smile appeared on her face and she said, "You must be Roxas, Sora's Nobody. Namine told me about you."

A ghostly blush appeared on Roxas' face and he looked at his feet uncomfortably before clearing his throat. "Urm, it's nice to meet you too Princess Snow White. As I was saying before, it's definitely not anyone from the original Organization resurrected. They would have been trying to gather hearts, not let them die in the bodies."

"Then what could these people want?" Kairi asked fearfully.

Sora stared at them all for a moment before saying, "Souls maybe?" Everyone faced him. "Well doesn't a soul leave a body when they die? These possible Nobodies might be grabbing the souls of people as they come out."

"As much as I'd like to say that's it, case closed, it doesn't add up," Roxas replied. "Why leave the dwarves then? You said that they didn't try and kill them yet they were killing everyone else."

"That's right," Snow White agreed. "It almost seemed like the man who grabbed them was embarrassed about his mistake, whatever it was. The woman seemed to be making fun of him and I got the impression that they didn't get along real well."

Sora looked at the ground before saying, "This doesn't look good so far." He yawned slightly, and Kairi giggled at bit as she put her hand on his cheek.

"Go to sleep Sora," Kairi whispered. "I promise nothing will happen when you're asleep."

Sora stared at her for a moment before laying back onto the bed. Roxas slowly vanished with a blue flash of light, entering Sora's body again.

Kairi couldn't help but blush a bit as Sora gripped her hand tightly as he quickly fell asleep. She gave it a reassuring squeeze then asked, "Why would someone put darkness in him? And why did it only show up now, not when he was injured."

"It did, in a way," Namine said as she appeared again. "He was trapped inside his own mind, remember? The darkness did that to him. When Roxas and I got him out the darkness must have hid, waiting for the moment to strike. That moment, unfortunately, occurred when we were in the Realm of Darkness."

"Someone's trying to get rid of him before he can stop them," Snow White suggested. "Defeat the enemy before they become too strong."

Kairi nodded as she glanced at him and said, "You'll be alright Sora. I won't let the darkness hurt you anymore. I swear it."

**VVVVVVVVVVVVVV**

**Author's Note**

Since I finished this chapter, and was in a good mood (field trips to the beach can do that to you. Yes we went on a field trip in my college class, isn't life great?) I decided to update.

I replied to everyone I could through their accounts, but still, thank you for the reviews and all feedback is appreciated.

I got one comment that I need to work on story-telling, and that's fair enough. Now I ask the question, what do you people think I could do to make this better? I'm open to most suggestions.

Poor Sora, he's my favorite character but I am going to be so mean to him in this. At least I let him have Kairi earlier on! No emotional agony for him in that aspect!

So comments, questions, suggestions, anything, send it to me even if it's through email. I'll try to get back to you as fast as I can!

_**Krystal Lily Potter**_


	9. Reunion of Friends

**Shadows of a Dream**

_**Chapter Eight – Reunion of Friends**_

Riku grunted as he plunged out of the portal and onto the ground. It had only been half a year since he had last created his own portal to go through, but it looked like he was out of shape in that area already.

"Where are we?" he heard one of the small children ask with awe.

Riku looked around and saw hills with flowers going as far as he could see. They were all standing in the middle of a large set of stone stairs overlooking the land. A large castle in the distance caught Riku's eye and he had a faint feeling of understanding.

"We're in Hallow Bastion," he replied.

"This isn't Hallow Bastion anymore," a small voice said.

"Yeah this is Radiant Garden," another agreed.

"A much better name. Hey, I like your hair, is it made of real silver? Can we have it?"

Riku whipped around and saw three small girls floating in the air. He stared at them with confusion as one flew over to him and said, "Well can we?"

"Can you what?"

"I think they want your hair Riku," Tidus said with a laugh.

"Huh? Why would I want my own hair?" the female Rikku asked.

"He was talking to me. My name's Riku."

"Yeah well I'm Rikku too."

There was a long period of silence between the two until another one of them let out a loud squeal. Everyone looked around and saw the girl with short brown hair (aside from her long braid) and mixed-matched eyes suddenly hug Tidus's head. He gave her a confused look as she glanced at the remaining girl and said, "Isn't he the cutest, Paine?"

"Sure Yuna."

"Seriously, you're hair is all silver and shiny. Can we have it?"

"Yuna get off of him!"

"No! I like him!"

The three girls continued with their string of chatter, and Riku looked more annoyed by the minute."

"Yuna! Rikku! Paine!"

"Oh no, it's the grumpy one!" All three cried out together before quickly zipping behind the rest of the group.

By 'the grumpy one' they meant Leon. The brown haired man walked towards them, and a couple of the children stepped away from this scarred stranger.

Riku studied him for a moment before saying, "You're Leon, right? I'll hand it to Sora, he can describe people."

Leon stared at Riku for a moment before the other Rikku said, "He has the same name as me. How weird is that?"

Raising an eyebrow Leon asked, "You're Riku? Sora's friend?"

"Yeah."

"Where's Sora?"

"We don't know," Riku replied. "The Islands were attacked and we got split up from them. They could be in any world, literally."

Leon groaned and said, "Come with me, and hurry."

**VVVVVVVVVVVVV**

Aerith's forest green eyes studied the people from Destiny Islands. The younger children were all scared and crowded together in a group when Leon first showed up with them. Now, thanks to Yuffie's energetic and almost childish attitude, they were all a little more comfortable and actually let Aerith look them over for injuries.

The older teens, however, seemed quite persistent in their questioning. All they wanted to know what was going on, why their island was attacked, and where their missing friends were.

Selphie was close to tears with frustration, Wakka had busted his Blitzball with anger, Tidus had taken to just sitting down talking only with the Gullwing Yuna (Who refused to leave him alone because she said he was so cute) and Riku was pacing back and forth.

Merlin, Cloud and Leon were talking to each other quietly around the table most likely talking about finding Sora and Kairi while Cid was typing frantically at his computer. Lastly Tifa stood at the door with her arms crossed, eyes glancing around the room at everyone else, much like Aerith's were.

"We need to contact King Mickey," Riku said suddenly.

"I've been trying," Cid replied quickly. "Communication hasn't been good in the past while."

This made Riku's pacing stop. His eyes looked at each one of them before asking, "How long have you known that the Heartless were back?"

"Not too long," Yuffie replied as she walked over.

"Not too long?" Tifa repeated angrily. "Those things and the Nobodies have been all over the place since just after the wielders went home."

"Why didn't you tell us?" Riku shot back. "We got a letter from King Mickey saying that there was a little trouble but not enough to call us in yet and to just enjoy ourselves in case we got called back."

"The darkness has grown," Cloud said suddenly. "The King told no lies at the time."

"We haven't been able to stay in contact with Disney Castle," Leon added while crossing his arms. "We've been able to get small parts of transmissions but that's about it."

"Is there any way we can get there?" Riku asked.

"My gummi ship was damaged in a battle about a week ago," Cid replied. "Although, I did get part of a transmission from the King a day ago and it sounded like he was coming here soon."

"Soon? How about now?" a squeaky, yet strong voice said. Everyone in the room turned and saw King Mickey in front of them with Goofy on his left and Donald on his right.

"Riku, what are you doing here?" Donald asked.

"Yeah, and where are Sora and Kairi?" Goofy added. No one answered them.

"They got there, didn't they?" Mickey asked, distress filtering through his black eyes. "The Heartless got Destiny Islands."

Riku nodded and said, "The people here are the only ones that got away. Sora and Kairi were with us but something happened when we were trying to pass through the portals to another world and Sora, who was carrying Kairi, passed out and fell through a portal that closed directly behind him."

"They could be anywhere!" Donald exclaimed.

"I was hoping that you'd be safe on the islands until we could find a safe, quick way to get to you three," Mickey said with a sigh. "Looks like the Heartless and Nobodies are more ahead in their plans than we thought they were."

"Do you know who's behind all of this?"

Mickey winced and said, "Well, one thing we completely forgot about, in our quest to defeat Xenmas and to get home was Malificient. She now rules over the Castle That Never Was and has mass amounts of Heartless at her command. The worse part is that the more Heartless there are—"

"The more Nobodies," Riku finished. "And I assume someone is controlling them too?"

"Yes," Mickey replied. "There are five Nobodies in charge. We have no clue what they're attempting to do, but they're not trying to collect hearts. They've been killing people instead."

"Maybe they're just on a psycho revenge killing spree," Selphie piped up. Everyone turned to look at her and she shifted uncomfortably, "What? From what I heard you guys and Sora completely whooped that Order ("Organized," Tidus said) and the witch before. At least that's what Yuffie said."

"I don't think so," Riku said slowly.

"He's right. These Nobodies, from what I've heard, seem to have no love for the Organization," Mickey replied. "If anything they'd be thanking Sora and Riku for taking out the Organization."

"So there is a group of Nobodies sending around their minions to kill everyone they come across and they hate the old Nobodies that were our enemies. On top of that Malificent is controlling a wicked amount of Heartless that are taking over planets at an alarming rate," Yuffie summarized. "AND on top of that Sora, the Keyblade Master, and Kairi, a Princess of Heart, have gone AWOL."

"You definitely have a way with words Yuffie," Leon muttered while shaking his heads.

"Why thank you Squall."

"It wasn't a compliment and the name's Leon."

She shrugged in response.

"Is there anyway we can try and find Sora and Kairi?" Riku asked quickly. "Anyway we could try to track them?"

Mickey tapped his foot and folded his arms in thought. He continued staring at Riku before saying, "The best way I can think of tracking them would be the amount of Heartless that will be after them. Malificent wants Sora gone and she wants Kingdom Hearts."

"So we wait and see which worlds get hit the hardest with Heartless?" Tifa suddenly asked. "I'm sorry but that seems like a bad plan."

"Won't they try to find us?" Goofy said.

"They don't have a Gummi Ship," Donald pointed out.

"Can't they just run through portals like we did to get here?" Tidus asked. "That's what that Roxas guy—ghost-like-thing did."

Riku nodded and said, "That's a good point. Roxas and Namine can open portals so they will most likely jump to some different places. It'd be stupid for them to stay in one place."

"If they can move," Wakka said suddenly. Everyone turned to look at him curiously, even Riku. "Well, that Roxas guy looked like he was in pain before he disappeared and Sora passed out. Kairi was out of it too."

Riku looked up at the sky outside and said, "You all need to stay here. If they are traveling this place will be one of the ones they'll try to get to. I'm going to find them."

"You can come with us," Mickey said quickly. "We'll go to Disney castle to see if they went there or if anyone else has heard anything. If there's something we don't know (he motioned to Donald and himself) Minnie and Daisy seem to know it."

Riku chuckled slightly before saying, "Alright. You guys keep an eye out, alright?"

They nodded and Tidus said, "I wish there was a way we could help more."

"We can train you while you're here," Yuffie said while exchanging a quick glance with Leon and Cloud. "The more people we have fighting on our side, the better."

"That's a good idea," Mickey said. "I have a feeling that we're going to need more fighters on our side to protect whatever it is these Nobodies are after."

Everyone nodded and soon Riku found himself on a Gummi Ship with the other three, watching Radiant Garden shrinking behind him as they quickly flew away from it.

"Riku," King Mickey said quietly. "Come with me for a second, there's something important I need to tell you."

Riku nodded and followed the King without a glance back at Donald or Goofy. He sat across from the pint-sized king and stared at him quietly.

"Recently there have been, er…well…odd happenings," Mickey said slowly.

"What kind of odd happenings?" Riku asked.

Mickey glanced at him for a second before looking out of the window and saying, "More people are getting Keyblades."

"What?! How is that possible?"

"As the story goes, originally there was only one Keybearer," Mickey explained. "But it was too easy to manipulate one, so more and more people started getting Keyblades. Eventually wars were fought between the bearers until all of the Keyblades vanished. Through history only small groups of people were made wielders after that, and there has only ever been one Master alive at a time."

"Sora," Riku said quietly.

"Exactly. However, in times of need more Keyblades have been known to appear. Twelve years ago there was a Keyblade War. There were hundreds of wielders, but eventually they were depleted by the darkness into five wielders. Myself and three others fought for light. They were named Terra, Aqua and Ven. They came from a place that no longer exists, but that's all I know about the three of them. The fifth wielder, however, did not fight for light. His name was Master Xehanort."

"He was a Keyblader?" Riku asked in shock.

Mickey nodded before saying, "I'm afraid that the worst is coming. More Keyblades have been appearing and that can only mean one thing…"

"Another war," Riku finished his sentence.

"It's possible," Mickey said with a nod. "There could be another reason, but I'm not sure what it'd be."

Riku put his head in his hands and groaned. Things were definitely not looking good for them.

**VVVVVVVVVVVVV**

**Author's Note**

There's a bit of Riku's side of the story for ya. Don't you love the perfect timing for Mickey, Donald and Goofy to show up? It happens in movies, tv, games…everything!

Anyways thanks for the reviews and catch ya next time.

_**Krystal Lily Potter**_


	10. Making My Way

**Shadows of a Dream**

_**Chapter Nine – Making My Way**_

Kairi yawned lightly as she walked beside Sora, one hand intertwined with his tightly and the other clasping her Keyblade. She stared at it for a moment before asking, "Do you have any clue what my Keyblade's name is?"

He turned slightly at stared at it for a moment. She, in turn, admired the Ultima Weapon, which was clutched in his hand tightly. It was one of her favorite Keyblades that he used.

Reaching out he hesitantly touched hers and blushed lightly before saying, "Well…"

"Well?"

"I don't really know how I know what it's called, but it's—"

"It's what?"

"It's called Flowering Destiny," he replied with a light blush on his cheeks.

Kairi smiled and moved it around for a moment before asking playfully, "So Riku gave me my Flowering Destiny to represent our budding destiny together? What am I doing here with you then?"

Sora's eyes narrowed slightly and he appeared startled at the question, not realizing that she was joking. A frown appeared on his face as he said, "Well if you want to go with Riku when we find him you can. I'll just—"

She cut him off by kissing him quickly before saying, "You will do nothing. I was joking."

'_You are an idiot,'_ Roxas echoed in Sora's head with a chuckle. _'I'm pretty sure that the dead tree over there could tell she was joking.'_

Kairi noticed Sora annoyed glare and his reddening cheeks and asked, "Roxas again?"

"He makes it his personal goal to drive me nuts," Sora explained.

"It's just like having a brother running around in your head then," she replied. "I hope we get to the Keyhole soon so he and Namine can create a portal to get us out of here."

Sora nodded, thinking back to that morning. Snow White insisted that there was nothing that they could do to help the Enchanted Forest at the time and, after she wished them good luck, the two young Keyblade wielders wandered off in search of the Keyhole. They ran into a small group of Dusk Nobodies a while back in their trek, but nothing more.

Still, both were cautious and kept their Keyblades in hand.

Sora gripped her hand a little tighter as another shiver went up and down his spine. He had a feeling that someone was watching them, but his eyes could never detect what it was. Luckily, even though he knew something was there, it never made a move on them.

"You know, the first time I got my Keyblade, all I was thinking about was helping you. Later on, when I actually looked at it, I couldn't help but be insulted," she said while gazing at the item in her hand.

Sora raised an eyebrow and said, "Why?" He made no effort to hide the amusement in his voice.

"Because it's so girly!" Kairi exclaimed while waving it around. "Just because I'm a girl doesn't mean I have to have a girly Keyblade. I could handle other ones just fine!"

Sora smirked and said, "Blame Riku for that. He gave you the girly Keyblade. Come to think of it I wonder where he got it…"

She pouted before saying, "Well I think that we should trade for awhile then. Let him have the girly Keyblade."

He laughed and said, "I'm sure he would appreciate that. I'll tell you what, when we get out of this creepy forest the first thing I'll do is give you a different keychain for your Keyblade. Or at least show you how to change it into Oathkeeper."

"Promise?"

"I promise."

**VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV**

"This would be beautiful if the Heartless and Nobodies hadn't killed it," Kairi suddenly commented.

It was a couple hours later, and they had stopped to rest when they could travel no further. They had reached a cliff overlooking the large expanse of forest in front of him. It was true, the sunset in the distance was gorgeous, but that part of the forest was as dead as the rest of it.

Sora yawned slightly and his Keyblade vanished from his hand. He flopped onto the ground while stretching and stared up at the sky. Kairi giggled and flopped to the ground beside him.

He kept all his senses in attention; worried that the presence he had felt earlier was still lurking close by. He could faintly feel it, but it wasn't close enough to make him spring into action. They would no doubt lose it when they continued down the cliff.

He inhaled deeply, catching the smell of flowers mixed with the sea. He closed his eyes for a moment and tensed slightly when he felt Kairi lay her head just under his chin and curl up close to him. He opened his eyes again and looked at the girl affectionately.

She grinned back and said, "Are we going to spend the night here?"

"I don't want to," he admitted. "And the next world we end up in could be one with a hotel or something similar."

"Or it could be worse."

"I'd rather just get out of here."

Kairi lifted herself off of him slightly and shifted so that she was staring at his face. He glanced at her and she said, "What's wrong?"

"Nothing."

"Don't lie to me Sora."

He sighed and said, "Something's been following us all day. I can feel it. It worries me a bit, but nothing's happened yet. Still, I don't want to go to sleep here, just in case whatever it is is biding its time to strike."

She rested her chin on his chest while staring at him. There was no fear behind her eyes, she knew that he would protect her, and even if he couldn't actually be by her side to force the darkness away he had taught her enough to defend herself.

Sora suddenly moved one of his hands behind her shoulders and the other under her knees as he stood up. She let out a light scream and nudged him in the ribs while asking, "What are you doing?"

"Close your eyes," he said while resting his head on the top of hers. Kairi did as he said while pressing her face against his neck. All she knew was that he leapt into the air and they were falling.

She didn't scream, but her grip on him tightened until she felt him land on his feet on the ground. She thought that his knees were going to give out when they started to bend, but he quickly straightened them out.

Moving her head away from his shoulder and carefully loosening her grip around his neck she looked around and saw the wall of the cliff behind them.

Sora looked down and smiled at her when she looked up at him. His smile turned into a shocked look when she gently slapped his cheek and said, "You crazy idiot."

"That's no reason to smack me around," he said with mock-anger. Kairi knew he was trying to seem angry and serious, but the warmth in his eyes and the grin that was slowly starting to break on his face betrayed him.

"Can you put me down now/"

He seemed to think this over before nodding and setting her feet back onto the floor. His grin never left his face as he tangled his arms around her shoulders and squeezed her gently. "I said I'd put you down, I never said that I'd let go."

"I never asked you to," she replied while turning and nuzzling her face in his neck.

Sora leaned down and kissed her deeply again. They stood there for a moment before breaking off the kiss and staring at one another again. Kairi quickly kissed him again before saying, "We should get going."

Keeping one arm around her shoulder he held her close to him he started walking through the constantly darkening forest.

Above the two teens, staring down from the cliff was a shadowed figure with a slim form. She crossed her arms in front of her chest and muttered, "Interesting. Very interesting."

**VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV**

Finally, they ended up stumbling upon a large, wooden door. It was partially open, which allowed the Heartless and Nobodies to travel across the worlds. Both sighed in relief at finding the keyhole.

Sora raised up the Ultima Weapon, ready to close the keyhole when a bunch of Heartless appeared around them.

Kairi quickly turned around so that she and Sora were back to back. She gave a quick, disgruntled look at her overly feminine Keyblade before focusing on the Heartless close to her and quickly swiping at it.

In the past six months Sora and Riku had taught her how to fight and how to use magic, but still, she felt pathetic as she knocked down one heartless after another while Sora bashed four and five at a time. Still, she was hitting the vile creatures quickly and was nowhere near helpless when it came to dealing with them anymore.

Sora flipped over a group of Heartless and, as they circled him, called out, "Firaga!" The ring of fire flew from his Keyblade and slammed into the Heartless. He looked over at Kairi and saw her do the same thing. She definitely had an aptitude for magic and had caught onto that much quicker than she had using the Keyblade in combat.

She flipped over the Heartless that ran at her and swung around, much to her surprise, slicing through all three of them at the same time.

At the same time she and Sora turned to the last Heartless. She was about to lunge at it, but only ended up running into Sora's outstretched hand. There was a confused look on his face as he said, "It's like those ones that were on Destiny Islands. The one that actually spoke."

Her head snapped to him as he cautiously took a step forward. The Heartless cowered back before the same, high-pitched scream that Sora had heard from it before happened, "HELP US!"

Kairi jumped and grabbed Sora's arm tightly as the creature vanished. Her eyes were wide and she was shaking slightly.

Sora's Keyblade vanished as he moved his arm out of Kairi's grasp and wrapped it around her shoulder. They stood there for a moment before Roxas and Namine appeared in front of them.

"That was…strange," Roxas said while looking at where the Heartless had been.

"We should leave," Namine added quickly. "I have a bad feeling about stay here to long."

Roxas nodded and both held their hands out, causing a black portal to appear in front of them.

"Do you know where it goes?" Kairi asked, still curled up in Sora's arms.

"No, there's so much darkness that its hard to pinpoint an exact location," Namine said while shaking her head, her ghostly blond hair flying around.

Sora held Kairi close to him as Roxas and Namine vanished into them again. With a quick glance at one another they walked through the portal and left the Enchanted Forest.

**VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV**

**Author's Note**

It was my last day of my first year of college and how did my friends and I spend the day? Finished a massive project of doom (no exaggeration this time), went out to eat and spent a good six hours playing Kingdom Hearts I and then I decided to update. Fun!!

Thank you for all of the reviews! Sorry, I didn't have time to reply to them but I really appreciate it!

Any questions, comments, suggestions, helpful critiques, anything, just send em out!

_**Krystal Lily Potter **_


	11. In the Jungle

**Shadows of a Dream**

_**Chapter Ten – In the Jungle**_

Kairi shivered as the frigid air attacked her skin. She had always wanted to see snow, and maybe when she was younger she had (she didn't know if Radiant Garden got snow or not), but now she was wishing that she wasn't near the cold, white substance at all.

Sora held her closer to his body while rubbing her arms, trying to produce some warmth in her goosebump-infested body.

"W-where a-a-are w-w-we?" she asked while her teeth chattered.

Sora wished that he were wearing one of his short-sleeved hoodies at the moment, instead of the hooded vest he had on. At least then he could have offered her to wear that over her bare arms.

He rested his chin on the top of her head as he continued to hold her close before saying, "I don't know but it almost looks like…"

His eyes rested on a tented area before him curiously. He knew he had seen it somewhere before, a while ago, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it.

A small scream escaped Kairi's lips and she pointed towards the dead bushes. Sora followed her gaze and gasped at what he saw: a frozen, dead ape.

"Deep Jungle?" he blurted out suddenly. "How can this be Deep Jungle? I—but that's the only place I've ever been that had apes and—and that tent! It's Jane's!"

"A jungle? This place used to be a jungle?" Kairi asked with surprise as she snuggled into him a little more. She felt him nod but then it stopped. She heard a thump and felt Sora go limp, falling onto her. Not expecting his dead weight, her legs buckled and she fell to the ground.

"Sora!" she cried out as she twisted herself around and saw him unconscious. There was a rock beside him with a bit of blood on it She held him tightly as she heard rapid footsteps approaching them.

"No!" she yelled. "Leave Sora alone!"

Pain exploded in the back of her head before her world went black.

**VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV**

"Are you alright Sora?"

Sora opened his eyes quickly and he was on his feet within a heartbeat. He looked around and saw that he was on a stain-glass platform of Namine. He turned around and saw his Nobody looking at him with worry.

"Yeah, I—wait, something hit me! I have to wake up! What about Kairi! She could be hurt!"

"Calm down," Roxas snapped. "There's nothing you can do. We're knocked out cold. What I'm wondering is why are we on a platform of Namine?"

Sora looked down and realized that it was kind of strange. Still, he couldn't care about that mystery. He just wanted to know if Kairi was all right. He could understand why Roxas was curious about the platform; it was of Namine after all.

"No offence Rox, but I don't care."

Roxas chuckled before saying, "I already knew that. Don't worry, I bet Kairi's fine."

"I hope so," Sora whispered. " I really hope so."

Light filled the entire room before Roxas said, "Looks like I was wrong about how knocked out we are, I think we're waking up."

**VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV**

Sora sat up and stared at the room he was in. His cerulean eyes darted around the cavern until a hand landed on his shoulder and a woman's voice said, "It's alright Sora."

He turned slightly and saw a brown haired woman staring at him. He blinked at her, confusion written across his face until Roxas, literally, kicked the memory back into his fuzzy head.

"Jane, where's Kairi?" he blurted out as he sat up. Pain shot through his head but he ignored it.

Jane smiled slightly and said, "She's right next to you."

Sora turned slightly and saw her lying beside him. He twisted around the rest of the way and put a hand on her cheek while saying, "Kai, come on wake up."

"I sorry," a deep male voice said. "Apes scared and attack."

Sora looked behind him and saw Tarzan behind him. Unlike before, Tarzan was also wearing a ragged, dark brown shirt that had obviously been thrown together quickly due to the cold weather. Sora also noticed that his English had definitely improved since the last time he had seen him, but he decided not to comment on it.

"What happened to this place?" Sora asked as he continued to rub Kairi's cheek gently.

"Heartless and white creatures," Tarzan explained. "They appear and fight the others. White strong things win. Shadowed figure freezes home."

"Nobodies," Sora said quickly. "They're the other piece of a Heartless."

"They came, and killed almost every adult in their way. Then they-they-" Jane looked at the floor sadly.

"What did they do?" Sora urged on.

"Take children," Tarzan replied sadly. "All them."

Sora blinked at his friend and suddenly said, "I'm sorry. I'll do whatever I can to find these Nobodies and get them back. I swear it."

"Tarzan believe you," Tarzan replied after a moment.

"It's late," Jane spoke up. "And these caves are safe. You should rest Sora."

"Not until Kairi wakes up," he said quickly while turning his gaze back to the object of his affections.

Jane grinned at this and giggled slightly. She motioned for Tarzan to leave that part of the cave, but he just shot her a confused look. She rolled her eyes and dragged him to another tunnel in the cave.

Sora turned back to Kairi and leaned into her a little more. He kissed her forehead and said, "Come on Kai, wake up. Please? For me?"

She stirred a little bit but her eyes stayed firmly closed.

"Come on baby, please wake up," he whispered and he rubbed her cheek.

Slowly her indigo eyes opened, looking into his cerulean ones. She blinked as he gripped her tightly and said, "Oh thank god. I was so worried Kairi."

She continued staring at him and said, "Did you just call me baby?"

Now it was his turn to stare at her as his eyes widened and a deep red blush appeared on his face. She giggled, wincing at the pain from where she had been hit, but ignored it as she leaned up and kissed him on his burning cheek.

"Well you see-I-um…"

"You're adorable," Kairi cooed as she leaned up. Both their eyes slowly closed as their lips met in a light kiss.

Roxas and Namine appeared a few feet away from them. Neither of their Others noticed them standing there, grinning at them.

"They really are made for one another," Namine whispered.

Roxas smiled and put an arm on her shoulder as they sat at the entrance of the cave, standing guard for their two friends.

Sora broke away from her and smiled while flopping next to her. Wrapping his arms around her protectively he pulled her over so that she was curled up to his right side.

Kairi sighed happily and pressed her lips to his forehead before tucking her head into the crook of his neck and sighing happily again as she went to sleep. She never once asked where they were or what had happened. She knew she could trust Sora with her life and knew that, as long as he was with her, that she was safe.

Before her eyes closed Kairi saw a grinning Roxas and Namine staring at her.

**VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV**

"That's terrible."

"I know."

Kairi sat beside Sora, across from Jane. They were on a large, bare tree and Tarzan was sitting in the thick braches farther up from them. They had just told Kairi what had happened to Deep Jungle, and she was not impressed at all.

She shivered from the cold, and from the feeling of dread the story left with her. Kairi shifted and pressed herself to Sora's side, snuggling up to him for warmth.

Sora wrapped his arm around her tightly, but aside from that he made no motion to acknowledge her presence. He had a thoughtful look on his face and his eyes were staring off into the pale sky above them.

Thoughts ran through his head faster than lightning, but he came to many dead ends before he reached where he wanted to be. Roxas was helping him sort through some of the information going through his mind, and the conclusion they came to was one that they wish they hadn't.

"They thought the seven dwarves were children," Sora blurted out quickly. "Then they realized their mistake and let them go. These Nobodies are capturing children for some strange reason, and I'm willing to bet they're only taking children. That's why they kill all adults that get in their way."

Kairi shifted and said, "It makes sense but why only children?"

"Are children born evil?" Jane thought aloud. "Is there any darkness in a child's heart, or is that developed over time?"

Sora nodded and said, "You have a point."

Suddenly a string of curses that would have made Jack Sparrow proud came from Sora, but not actually from him. Everyone in hearing distance turned and looked at him with shock and Kairi elbowed his gut.

"That wasn't me!" he cried out. "What the hell Roxas? You do know that everyone else heard that, right?"

"Sorry," Roxas said as he appeared outside Sora's body, sitting on the opposite side of his Other from Kairi. "But I just remembered something that I shouldn't have forgot."

"What?" Kairi asked.

"There was another part of the Ansem Reports," Roxas explained. "One piece that was hidden away by Ansem the Wise. It was my job to find it. I did find it, but I only got a chance to skim it over before I started having dreams about you Sora and left the Organization. I remember putting it back where I found it because it was such a good hiding place. I was going to use it as leverage to get Xemnas to leave me alone when I left. Unfortunately, Riku got to me first and my memories were taken by Namine."

"Do you have any idea what it was about?" Sora wondered.

"I can't remember it, but I know that Xenmas said something about the types of hearts we needed. I don't know why, but I have a feeling that the report could help us," Roxas said with a sigh.

"Do you remember where you were sent to find it?" Kairi asked.

"It was around Twilight Town I think," Roxas said after a moment. "That would make sense. Until I merged with Sora again I had only ever been to there and The World That Never Was on my own. Every other place I went I was supervised."

Tarzan suddenly jumped past them onto the ground. He seemed to almost growl angrily as he said, "Heartless."

"Where?" Jane asked as she stood up on the branch.

"Past trees over there," he replied while pointing a strong arm westward.

Sora jumped off of the tree, followed by Kairi. At the same time the Ultima Weapon and Oathkeeper appeared in their hands respectively. Kairi had been ecstatic when Sora showed her how to change the Keyblade, and she was very pleased with Oathkeeper.

This time Kairi led the way by leaping in front of Sora and flipping into the circle of Heartless. She swung her Keyblade quickly, slamming four of them at once, cutting through them with ease.

Sora smirked at her improvement, but he also knew that the Keyblade she now used was stronger than her 'girly' one. He followed her and started striking the creatures. It was a quick battle, too quick for Sora's comfort.

They continued to stand back to back, Keyblades held tightly in hand, waiting for something else to spring out at them.

"There's nothing around you," Jane called out from above.

They lowered their weapons and suddenly Kairi let out a terrified gasp. Sora turned to her quickly and she threw her arms around him, Keyblade still held tightly in her right hand. "Sora," she whispered. "What if those were some of the children turned into Heartless?"

Sora felt a lump appear in his throat before shaking his head and whispering, "I hope not. Just, don't tell anyone else about that idea, it might upset everyone."

"Are you alright?" Jane asked as she slid down one of the vines.

"Yes, there were only a few," Sora replied. "Umm, Jane do you happen to know if the keyhole here was unlocked recently?"

"Yes, it was," she replied. "Tarzan said that it was pretty much torn apart."

"Can you show us?" Kairi asked the man in question.

He nodded and they headed into the frozen jungle.

**VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV**

The trek up the waterfall, which still fell despite the frigid temperature, was a treacherous one. The rock was frozen, covered in ice and very slippery. More then once Sora cleared the way with the Firaga spell, but even that didn't stop them all from slipping and sliding. They needed to stop for a few minutes when Sora had taken a nasty fall and hurt his leg, but Kairi used a Cura spell and he was back to normal in a few minutes.

"Key," Tarzan muttered as they entered the familiar place.

A sad look passed over Sora's face. The Keyhole here had been beautiful the first time he had seen it, but not it looked like a shattered carving in a wall of ice and stone.

He held out his Keyblade and saw that, slowly, the keyhole shut again, but it was a struggle to get the torn keyhole to do so.

"There," he said after a few minutes. "Closed, and hopefully for good this time."

"Will you be leaving then?" Jane asked curiously.

"We have to," Sora replied. "You've seen what happened here, and I'm willing to bet that other worlds suffered through it as well."

Jane nodded and Tarzan said, "Friends always here." He patted the place where his heart was. "Remember."

"Thank you Tarzan," Sora replied with a small smile as he took Kairi's hand. "You're right, friends are always in our hearts and can give us strength, even if they're not here anymore."

**VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV**

**Author's Note**

I know I updated two days ago, but I'm in a writing kind of mood so I'll probably write really fast in the new few weeks.

So thanks for reading and I'll see you all next time.

_**Krystal Lily Potter**_


	12. Somewhere in the Dark

**Shadows of Dream**

_**Chapter Eleven – Somewhere in the Dark**_

Crysita sat in her large, black chair, looking out the window with an annoyed glare. Her brown eyes flickered to the wall, her anger flaring up even more. The annoying cries of the children made her wish that they could end all of their pathetic existences at that very moment, but she knew that they couldn't. They needed these children to keep their hearts for the time being. Unfortunately, a few of them had already been turned into Heartless, but it was only a few and they were the weakest Shadows she had ever seen, so that was alright.

She fiddled with a clasp on her sweater, turning it into a sparkling crystal before jumping to her feet and quickly walking out of the room. She heard her name being called, and knew from the feminine tone that it was Lilanti. The girl was normally calm and used a rather dry tone of voice, so the excited tone made Crysita very curious.

The golden-blond haired girl appeared in front of her with a rather maniacal grin on her face. That grin always made the violet-haired Crysita interested, and it usually meant good news for them.

"I was scouting Enchanted Forest," Lilanti said happily. "And I happened to stumble across two interesting figures. I followed them, because they had those legendary weapons, the Keyblades."

"Really now?" Crysita asked, her eyebrow raising slightly. "Who were they?"

"A boy and a girl. The boy's name was Sora and the girl was Kairi. I did a bit of research and apparently Kairi is one of the seven Princesses of Heart. Sora, on the other hand, was the one that interested me more. He's not just a wielder of the Keyblade, no, he's the Master, the Chosen One."

"Is he now?" the other girl asked with a grin. "So we know who to watch out for."

"I also ran into Sarlio, he collected more souls," Lilanti added.

"Good, things are going exactly the way we want."

**VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV**

Riku sighed as he looked around the beautiful garden of Disney Castle. He impatiently tugged at his brown jacket, mentally begging the King to hurry up. They were leaving that day to attempt to find Sora and Kairi.

This course of action was decided after checking into Radiant Garden again to make sure that the two missing people hadn't shown up there. A rather distracted Cid gave them a negative response so they decided it was time to search for their friends.

He tapped his foot as he saw Goofy approaching with what looked like a younger version of him following close behind.

"Heya Riku, the King and Donald are coming," the dog-like creature said. "And this is my son, Max. He's going to be connecting to other worlds from here to tell us if anyone's seen Sora or Kairi."

Max nodded and smiled at Riku, who nodded back. He was actually impressed that this young child could be so useful, but he kept that to himself.

King Mickey appeared with Queen Minnie close behind. Donald and Daisy appeared a few moments later as well. King Mickey looked around and said, "Welp, we better get going fellas. If we want to find Sora and Kairi we're going to have to move fast."

It had been three weeks since Destiny Islands had been attacked. Three weeks since Riku had last seen his friends. They had no leads, and nothing to go on but their gut instinct.

"If only we could get an insider with the Nobodies," Mickey had said to Riku once. "Then we could know if they had seen Sora or Kairi."

They had a second mission on top of search for Sora and Kairi. Their second job was to locate the new Keyblade wielders in the worlds. There weren't many, but if they could get these Keybearers to protect their own worlds then that was less that they had to look after.

"Riku," King Mickey said before they got on the Gummi Ship. "Do you happen to have a picture of Roxas or Namine?"

"No," he replied, startled by the question. "Why?"

"I was hoping we could leave a picture with Minnie and Daisy, but I guess not. What do they look like exactly?"

"Roxas looks exactly like Sora, but his hair is blond and spiked differently. His clothes are mostly beige but with some black and red. Namine looks exactly like Kairi but she is blond as well, a little lighter than Roxas'. She would be wearing a white dress with blue sandals. Why would they need to know why they look like?"

"Just in case we find Roxas and Namine, but not Sora and Kairi."

_Just in case…_

Riku froze, he had never even thought that there was a possibility Sora or Kairi were turned into a Heartless. Well, Sora would be turned into an actual Heartless but Kairi would just be an empty shell.

"I-I just never thought," Riku said while looking at the ground. He shook his head, his silver hair flying around before asking, "Where are we heading first?"

"Agrabah, there's been some trouble there but Aladdin and Genie has been taking care of it. They could use some more help though."

"Aladdin?"

"He got a Keyblade," Mickey explained. "Wishing Lamp."

"Didn't Sora have that Keychain with him?" Riku asked with confusion.

"He did at one point of time. I don't know how Aladdin got it, and when I spoke to him he had no clue either."

Riku stared at the steel floor of the Gummi Ship as Donald (or possibly Goofy) set them on a course away from Disney castle, into the unknown depths of space.

**VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV**

Crysita knew an opportunity when it was presented to her. If she could feel emotions her brown eyes would be wide with excitement and she would be smiling widely. Instead she simply stared at the sky with a rather blank expression.

Two of the Keyblade Wielders were already presented to her, both on their own and jumping from world to world with very little knowledge on the enemies they faced. Not only that, but they had also presented their greatest weaknesses early on. An unfortunate mistake on their part, but Crysita was tempted to appear in front of them and thank them.

The two were, without a doubt, in love, or at least had deep feelings for one another. The scene that Lilanti had described between the two was sickening sweet, but at the same time it gave Crysita a forced sense of delight. It was easy to destroy as person when their greatest weakness was another person.

However, after looking up some information on Sora Hikari and Kairi Yamada she had found some rather interesting facts. Sora, although he had been a Heartless and had a rather vicious antiform that liked to pop up every once in a blue moon, according to the files that Ansem the Wise had kept, had one of the strongest hearts he had ever documented. Apparently his Heartless was rather weak because he had an abnormally low amount of darkness in his heart. It was this reason that his Nobody, Roxas, didn't posse the same amount of darkness that many other Nobodies did.

Kairi was a Princess of Heart, so naturally she had no darkness in her.

The thought of two strong-hearted people with little darkness made Crysita grin an emotionless grin. She ignored the whines of the children for now, because it made her think of what she could really have:

A strong heart with almost no darkness.

One stronger than either the Master or the Princess. No, the heart that she knew, in all actually, could be created would not be theirs, but rather a child.

She frowned again, knowing that it was just a tease of a dream. There was no way she could force them to conceive a child, especially since she knew that they knew children were in danger now.

Still, the thought of such a strong heart was tempting to her, but she would only be bothered to wait for that one. She had no intentions of opening a 'breeding factory' as Jorix once suggested.

No, she was above that. Even when she was whole she had been above allowing that kind of idiocy.

Her keen hearing that she had developed when she was whole picked up on the sounds of footsteps coming towards her. From the heavy stomps, rather than the light, quick sounds that Lilanti made, she knew that it was one of the three boys.

Looking down at her nails she muttered, "I'd only put our mission on hold for that one child, but it's not worth it. What awaits us in Twilight's Destiny is not worth the wait for anything."

The door flew open and Carverin entered. He glanced at her and said, "We were trying to take some children in Atlantis, but someone with a Keyblade stopped us. We needed to leave. She did a bit of damage to Jorix."

"The Princess?" Crysita asked. "Or that strange person who stumbled upon Atlantis? Milo, or whoever he was."

"No," Carverin replied while shaking his head. "She had green hair, but that's all we know."

Crysita's eyes flashed dangerously at his words and she said, "I know who it was. Leave me to think."

He nodded and left.

"Well, well, looks like you didn't listen when I said to stay out of his did you Midori?" she whispered to herself. "Stupid move Midi, a very stupid move."

**VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV**

**Author's Note**

And here's the part of the story where I become a HUGE hypocrite (read profile page about things that annoy me about fanfiction to understand). See, I am really annoyed at myself for doing this butttttt because I am so far ahead in my writing (as in I could update this story four times as of today) I'm not going to UNLESS I get **at least 3 reviews** for each chapter. No, I'm not going to up the number as the chapters go because I hate myself for doing this. I just need some motivation to update this, besides, I don't think 3 is a terrible number, do you?

Thank you to the people who have been reviewing though. Love you guys a lot! Cookies and Plushies of your fav KH characters all around!

Any comments, questions, suggestions, concerns, flames, I don't care. I can take em all. No, flames don't bother me anymore because they make me laugh. I listen to polite critiques while flames make he laugh.

So, see ya all next time! When will that be? It's up to you!

_**Krystal Lily Potter**_


	13. Swamp Tales

**Shadows of a Dream**

_**Chapter Twelve – Swamp Tales**_

Kairi came flying out of a black portal and fell to the ground in a fit of giggles. Her indigo eyes were filled with tears of laughter as she waited while staring at the portal.

Suddenly Sora flew through it, his legs covered from his knees down with a thick, black tar. Another round of laughter escaped Kairi's lips again as he glared at her.

"I'm s-sorry," she said as she continued to laugh. "But you got attacked by tiny mutant tar-people! It doesn't get much funnier than that."

He muttered a string of curses under his breath and said, "I am NEVER going to that world EVER again." Sora couldn't even recall the name of the odd place, but he didn't seem bothered by that fact.

She continued to laugh as he continued to mutter before saying, "We should try to see if there's a river or something around here where we can wash this off."

Kairi smirked and said, "You could just freeze it off. It might be quicker."

"You want me to freeze my legs?" he asked slowly.

"I'll do it," she replied excitedly while Oathkeeper appeared in her hand. Sora was about to protest but she had already blasted the tar with the blizzard spell.

"Cold!" he yelped and brought out his keyblade. He proceeded to smash the frozen tar off of his legs, which were now very cold to the touch.

"Aww is little Sorwa cold?" Kairi asked in a tone as if she were talking to a baby or a puppy. She quickly hugged him and said, "Does he want Kaiwi to make it better?"

Sora chuckled, not the least bit insulted and said, "Yes he does very much."

Kairi laughed again and rested her head on his shoulder while her eyes closed, "Where do you think we are?"

"I've never been here…" his voice trailed off at moment caught his eye. He started at the bushes and blinked with surprise as a tiny, red creature appeared.

It half pranced, half flew around happily but stopped when it saw Sora and Kairi. Its large green eyes stared at them and it cocked its head to the side slightly.

"Is that a dragon?" Kairi asked slowly while letting go of Sora and walking towards it. "A baby one?"

"Well it looks like a baby something," Sora agreed. "It reminds me of a mutated donkey though."

"Hey little guy," Kairi said as she knelt down in front of it. "Are you lost?"

It let out a squeal and said, "Mama!"

Sora let out a gasp and the next thing Kairi knew she was in his arms again with his Keyblade stretched in front of both of them. Slowly her gaze turned upwards and she gulped nervously. When the little baby…thing had said mama, it literally meant his mother.

A large red and pink dragon landed beside the baby, snarling at the two strangers. A group of the same little creatures appeared and happily tackled the missing one.

"Where is it? I can handle it!" a loud voice said suddenly. Sora quirked an eyebrow as a donkey suddenly appeared on the scene.

"Donkeeeeeey to the rescue!" it yelled loudly. "I'll teach em for messing with my—" He stumbled over a log and tripped, flipping onto the ground. The large dragon seemed to sigh with annoyance.

"Oh no! I'm stubbed my hoof! I'll never be able to see another sunset! Please doctor, tell me I can sing again!"

Sora's grip on Kairi loosened, and his body became less tense but more confused. They glanced at one another before Kairi asked, "Are you alright?"

The donkey opened its eyes and stared at them for a split second before jumping to his feet and saying, "Yeah I'm fineeee. Who wants to know? You trying ta take my babies?"

"What? Those are—how—I—never mind," Sora said while shaking his head. He did not want to know how a donkey and a dragon could possibly interbreed. "No, we're not going to take your babies. We don't even know where we are."

"Really now? You going around with a big-ass sword like that tells me different," the donkey said as he came closer to Sora. Sora glanced at the Ultima Weapon before it vanished in a flash of light.

"Goodness me you're a witch! Burn him at the stake! No never mind, I want the stakes."

"Where are we?" Kairi asked to the ranting creature.

Silence engulfed them all as one of the little Dronkies approached Kairi and nuzzled her leg with his head. The dragon-mama and the donkey-dad seemed to watch this for a moment before the dragon nodded and backed off a bit.

"Alright, guess you're alright," the donkey said with a frown before grinning widely. "You, my friends, are in Far-Far-Away. More specifically, my friend Shrek's swamp is just around the corner. I'm Donkey and you are?"

"I'm Kairi," she said with a smile. "And this is Sora."

"Nice to meet ya," Donkey said as his grin seemed to get bigger. "You can come with me to Shrek's place. Hope you don't mind stinky-disgusting people though. Actually, stinky, disgusting, mean, unfriendly Ogres. Fiona and the babies are nice though. When we get there I'll make waffles."

"Alright then," Sora said slowly as he took Kairi's hand. She tensed up at the mention o an Ogre but said nothing. "Lead the way."

"Sora," she hissed.

"We need to find out where we are and see if there's a keyhole to seal here," Sora replied quietly as they stared walking after Donkey, who continued to chatter away about random things. "And if this Shrek person lives right here he might know."

"If we get eaten by an ogre it's your fault," she whispered back while glaring.

"I've faced Maleficent in her dragon form Kairi," he replied. "How bad can this be?"

**VVVVVVVVVV**

"Ohhhh Shreeeeeeeeeeeeeekkkkkk!" Donkey yelled loudly as they entered the swamp area. "Where arrrreeeee you? I've brought friends!"

" 'Ow many times 'ave I told ya Donkey!" Kairi grasped Sora's arm tightly at the voice. "No bringing people to ma swamp!"

"But these are nice people," Donkey said quickly. "And he has a giant funny looking sword!"

Sora blinked and said, "Umm…"

Suddenly a tall, green creature appeared, looking quite cross. Sora winced as he felt Kairi's fingernails dig into his biceps.

"Why should I care?" The ogre they assumed was named Shrek asked. "I don't want no one near ma swamp. 'Ow do ya know they're not the bad guys _Donkey_?" His green eyes stared at the two as if trying to pummel them with his mind.

"Stop it Shrek, they look harmless enough," a calm voice said.

Shrek turned slightly and said, "But Fiona—"

There was a sigh and a shorter, female ogre appeared in front of them. She had long, cinnamon tinted hair and a smile on her face. In her arms were three squirming ogre babies.

Kairi's grip loosened a bit at the sight of the mother and children.

"Hello, I'm Fiona and this is Shrek," she said kindly. "Who are you?"

"I'm Sora and this is Kairi," he replied quickly.

"Sora and Kairi," she repeated with a nod. "Where are you from?"

They both winced before Kairi whispered, "A place that doesn't exist anymore."

"So yer trouble makers are ya?" Shrek snapped. "Well get out of me swamp then. I don't need any more trouble."

"What kind of trouble?" Sora asked quickly.

"People shrouded in darkness," Fiona replied with a grim look. "They came but Shrek scared them off."

Sora and Kairi's eyes met for a moment. His eyes turned to the three small ogre babies, and then at the group of dronkies and said, "How many more children are around this area?"

"Many more amigos," another voice said, tinted with a Spanish accent. They looked around for the speaker but couldn't find him.

"Puss! What are ya doing here too?" Shrek growled.

Suddenly a small cat walking on two legs appeared in front of them. They stared at him, eyeing his boots and feathered hat. He bowed politely to the two newcomers and said, "Allow me to introduce myself. I am Puss, in boots!"

Kairi giggled and said, "You're cute."

"Why thank you," he said. "But as for your question, there are many children around here."

"Why does that matter?" Donkey asked quickly.

"Those people you described," Sora said quickly. "They're the leaders of a group that are kidnapping children from their homes. We don't know why yet. They've also been killing any adults that get in their way."

"Or at least freezing them, or something along those lines," Kairi added.

"They're not coming near ma family," Shrek growled. "So ya can get going."

"It doesn't matter if we're here or not," Sora snapped. "They've already been here and they'll be back."

"Is there anything we can do to stop them?" Fiona asked.

"Having a dragon and ogres around helps," he replied with a small smirk before it faded. "They're called Nobodies, beings without hearts. They don't feel emotions, so they have no regret. They will fake having emotions though to try and fool you."

"No hearts?" Donkey asked.

"Where do their hearts go?" Puss finished.

"A nobody is created from the soul and empty body of a person when their hearts are removed," Kairi explained. "The hearts, in turn, are surrounded by the darkness that is unleashed from them to create living darkness called Heartless. That name isn't that accurate, is it?"

Sora shrugged and said, "We could help ward them off for a bit but we've been traveling from world to world and there doesn't seem to be an end to all of this."

"I can protect ma own family boy," Shrek snapped.

"Stop it," Fiona replied. "They can help."

"With what?"

"The big funny sword!" Donkey cried out.

Sora and Kairi both held out their hands and their weapons appeared in a flash of white light.

"They're called Keyblades," Kairi said.

"They're the only thing that can truly kill a Heartless," Sora added.

Fiona eyed the weapons in awe and said, "Will you stay with us for the night?"

"Fiona!" Shrek yelled. "We don't need em!"

"I don't want anything happening to my babies," she snapped back. "Please Sora, Kairi?"

Kairi shifted uncomfortably before Sora said, "Yeah, but do you think you could answer a few of our questions about this place?

"If it's answers you wish we shall comply," Puss said while bowing.

Donkey rolled his eyes and said, "Whatever fluffy."

**VVVVVVVVVV**

A cold blast of air passed through the quiet, almost empty city. Many people had been crystallized, most killed.

A young woman quickly sprinted down the street. Her elbow-length, forest green hair flew around as the continued to move, making her wish she had tied it up. Her deep brown eyes were locked on the looming monument in front of her: a sparkling white palace.

Fear coursed through her as she ran through the broken gates and came to the realization that she was too late.

With a deep intake of air she jumped up the steps, clearing all twenty in one bound. Her brown, knee-high boots seemed to cling into her more and more as her flat heels echoed on the marble floors.

She came to a stop and her weapon appeared in her hand. Her Keyblade had a crescent moon of silver on the hilt and the blade was a mixture of bright reds, oranges and yellows. At the end, making it appear as a double sided-key was half of a sun made of gold on each side of the blade.

She held her weapon ready as she carefully pushed open the large doors to the ballroom, and winced at what she saw. Row upon row of people stood crystallized in pools of blood.

Rushing into the door, she ran towards the back of the hall and found the two people she was looking for in the state she wished she hadn't. They, like everyone else, were perfect diamond statues.

A groan escaped her lips and she said, "Prince, Cinderella, I'm so sorry I couldn't make it in time."

Footsteps could be clearly heard behind her. She whipped around, eyes focusing in the direction of the sound.

A young woman appeared before her with a sadistic grin on her face as she said, "Looks like I won this world Midi."

"Crysita," she hissed angrily. "I won't let you get away with this."

"What are you going to do?" the Nobody said with a sarcastic laugh. "You're all alone. However, youre pointless quest amuses me so I'll leave you be for now. I'll be watching Midori, I promise you that."

Midori glared at her, and her hands clenched her Keyblade so tightly that it turned her knuckles white. She watched as Crysita vanished before saying, "I might be alone now, but I am not alone as a Keyblade wielder Crissy,_ I_ promise _you_ that."

**VVVVVVVVVV**

**Author's Note**

As promised, you guys decide how fast I update for now so here's chapter 12.

If anyone's confused about the world Sora and Kairi were talking about, no I didn't skip a chapter or anything, I just skipped a few weeks (which I will be doing more often then not to make time pass faster).

Thank you to everyone who reviewed! Love you all! I appreciate the feedback and attempted to read through this a little more carefully this time to try and catch silly mistakes I might have made, but it's often hard to find your own mistakes on a computer screen.

So thank you to Demonically Angelic Neko88, Iaveina, blackrogue123, Kanie and Lyricaa for reviewing!

Hmm…I just got done writing a 15 page chapter. When that will show up only I know. Have fun waiting for that one! (I usually write anywhere from five to eight pages)

See ya'll next time.

_**Krystal Lily Potter**_


	14. Midori

**Shadows of a Dream**

_**Chapter Thirteen – Midori**_

"Oh no."

King Mickey's voice seemed to echo above the sobs and horrid cries of the people of Agrabah.

Riku stared at the chaos with wide eyes, unable to believe what he was seeing. Sure, he had seen the aftermath of many worlds being terrorized, but never once had he seen such horror unraveling so quickly.

Nobodies were everywhere, destroying what they could. They seemed to have one purpose and one purpose only: to kill as many as possible.

"Look at that!" Donald suddenly cried out. They all turned and saw a pale white light leave a person and go into one of the Nobodies.

"What was that?" Goofy asked with confusion.

"His soul," Mickey said with a grimace. "We need to hurry to the palace to make sure Princess Jasmine is alright."

The four of them started to run through the streets, striking at the Nobodies that got in their way. The palace loomed in the distance, and Mickey felt terror pass through his small body when he could clearly see the thick palace walls destroyed in spots.

They neared the palace when one of the buildings to their right exploded. Time seemed to go in slow motion for Riku as a rather large chunk of stone started to fall onto the miniature king. It was one of those moments where he felt like he was frozen in time, unable to move his own body.

Suddenly time seemed to speed up again, but instead of a crushed king, the stone was quickly destroyed.

"What in the—" Mickey started but stopped mid-sentence. All four members of the group stared in awe as a tall, young woman slowly turned around and stared at them. Her dark brown eyes seemed to dig into Riku's before she glanced downward.

A small gasp of surprise escaped her lips as she said, "You're a wielder as well!" She seemed almost excited at her own words. Her smile quickly turned into a grim look and she said, "The palace is under attack, and I haven't been able to find Wielder Aladdin or Princess Jasmine. I do hope they're alright."

"Who was that?" Donald asked as the green-haired girl rushed towards the palace, destroying any Heartless or Nobodies that came her way.

"I've never seen her before," Mickey replied as they followed the quickly moving girl.

"She has a Keyblade though, so she must be on our side, right?" Goofy asked.

"Not necessarily," Mickey said grimly. "Having a Keyblade does not mean you're good. Many Keyblade Masters in the past have used their weapons for chaos instead of peace. I think we can trust her though. I don't know why, but I feel it."

Riku was already running after the mysterious girl. He watched as she jumped over the rubble at the gates and continued running up the stairs of the palace.

He followed her into the main room and almost crashed into her. A confused look passed over Riku's face before his eyes followed hers to the sight that made her freeze in mid-step.

Aladdin and Jasmine were both in front of him, frozen in stone.

"Oh god," he whispered as Mickey, Donald and Goofy appeared behind them.

"What happened to them?" Donald asked.

"One of those Nobodies must have done this," Goofy answered.

"Jorix," the girl said quickly.

They all turned and looked at her curiously.

"The group your talking about is called the Half-Hearts," she said. "They aren't what you call normal Nobodies, even in comparison to Organization XIII. They've been going around and…incapacitating anyone that is a threat to them but might be useful later on. Already they've gotten to Cinderella, her prince, Alice, Aurora, Prince Philip and now Aladdin and Jasmine."

"How do you know all this?" Mickey asked suspiciously.

A dark smile appeared on her face and she said, "I've gotten to each and every one of them a little too late. I found out about the Half-Hearts' plans and tried to stop them, but it's been no use."

"Who are you?" Riku finally asked.

"I'm a Keyblader like you Silver," she replied. "And like Aladdin there."

"He does have a Keyblade," Goofy said observing the 'frozen' young man. "And it's one that Sora used to have."

"He's right, I recognize the keychain," Donald agreed, sadly, also looking over the statue-like Aladdin.

"The only person that can give others Keyblades is the Master," she said before turning on her heel and walking to the door, looking dejected.

"Where are you going?" Riku called out.

"To try and find a way to get to Belle and the Beast's Kingdom before it's too late. Or maybe to see Snow White's world to see if she's alright."

Mickey and Riku shared a look before Mickey said, "Do you know much about the Half-Hearts?"

She stopped walking and turned around to face them, a neutral expression gracing her features. Brown eyes studied them for a moment before she replied, "The only person you'll find that knows more is the leader of them."

"We have no clue what we're dealing with," Riku said. "And we could use more help since they're freezing Keybladers."

Mickey looked at her and said, "So what we're trying to say is, why don't you come with us?"

She raised an eyebrow before asking, "Really?"

All four of them nodded.

A grin appeared on her face as she said, "Alright. I'll tell you what I know about them while we head to the Beast's Castle."

"What's your name?" Riku asked as he walked up to her.

"Midori, and you are?"

"Riku."

"Donald."

"Goofy."

"Mickey."

"He's the king ya know," Donald stated proudly.

"Of Disney Castle?" Midori asked. Receiving a nod from Mickey she said, "You're Kingdom is safe for now. They're not sure how to penetrate so much light. Unfortunately, no where else is as prepared for darkness as your kingdom."

"We had better hurry then," Riku said.

"It shouldn't take long to get there," Donald said after a moment of thought.

"With portals?" Midori said skeptically. "You can land anywhere these days. It's ridiculous how difficult it is to pinpoint a specific location."

"No, with our gummi ship!" Goofy cried out.

"A…Gummi Ship?" She asked slowly.

"That was my reaction too," Riku said as they stared to leave. The Heartless that were there, as well as the Nobodies, seemed to vanish after the princess and her future prince were discovered.

She eyed Riku for a moment before saying, "You've been lost in the dark before, haven't you?"

His green eyes glanced over at her, slightly surprise, as he asked, "How did you know?"

As they walked through the now quiet and empty streets of Agrabah, she looked at her Keyblade and explained, "My Keyblade is named Twilight. I was given this first in a dream I had. There was a boy there, maybe a year younger than you. He held it out and said that because I was from the light but had been forced to use darkness to save not only myself but others as well, that I deserved Twilight. This boy, he struck me as powerful, even though he doesn't look it physically like others in the past, and I knew he was the Master. He told me to protect as many as possible, and when the time come I'd meet some friends and fellow wielders to trust."

A confused look appeared on Riku's face as he said, "The Chosen One of the Keyblade is my friend, Sora."

"A little shorter than you, spiky light brown hair, wears a crown chain and has the most striking blue eyes I've ever seen?" Midori asked.

For some odd reason, Riku felt jealousy pass over him at Midori's words. He didn't see why though, a lot of girls that knew both Sora and him often would comment on Sora's eyes to Riku, and it never once bothered him since he knew girls often asked Sora and Kairi if they could put in some kind of good word with him.

"Yeah, that's him," he said after a moment.

She nodded and said, "Only the Master can distribute the Keyblades. They don't do it consciously though. It's like their heart and soul just takes a form of it's own."

**VVVVVVVVVVV**

"What's the damage to the worlds you've been in so far?" Mickey asked her as they sat down at a table on the Gummi Ship. Donald and Goofy were piloting, ready in case of Heartless or Nobody attacks while Riku and Mickey questioned the mysterious Midori.

"Absolute," she said with a wince. "The Half-Hearts will stop at nothing to get what they want."

"What do they want?"

"Haven't you noticed a pattern your majesty?" she asked politely. "They go to worlds, disable those that might be threats at the moment but useful later on, kill everyone else and take the children."

"I noticed as much," Mickey said slowly. "But we can't figure out why."

"They're planning on taking the hearts of the children, and they've been collecting strong and good souls."

"Why?" Riku asked, startled. "Why would they go through the trouble to do that in such large numbers?"

She eyed him for a moment and said, "What are you searching for Riku Keimei?"

Although Riku was known for being the calm, quiet, serious type those days, this girl seemed to be able to startle him to no end no matter what she did. Instead of answering her question he said, "Why did you change the subject? And how did you know my name was Riku Keimei? I never told you my last name."

"I see things," she said with a shrug. "Not visions, but I can see things inside of people. I saw who you were and that you're searching for someone."

"My friends, Sora and Kairi."

"Are you sure about that?" Midori asked, a sly look on her face. Quickly she turned back to King Mickey and asked, "What else would you like to know?"

"Who are they? The Half-Hearts that is," Mickey asked.

"Well, you know they're all Nobodies for starters. Each of them has the ability to use a certain power, much like Demyx could use water or Axel could use fire. The leader is Crysita, the female with purple hair and brown eyes. She can turn anything she touches into crystal, but still has the ability to cause pain to the people even in crystallized form. She is vicious to the bone and wants nothing more than to reach her goal by any means possible. She's the leader because she's the most powerful and she trained the others to use the powers they have. I have no clue who she was as a whole person, but she couldn't have been pleasant. Although rumor has it that she's from a place called Forbidden World."

"Jorix has bright blue hair and hazel eyes. He always seems to be cracking some kind of joke but don't let that throw you off. He is quick to resort to violence. I guess, in a way, he reminds me of a nasty version of Axel. He and Crysita were the ones who attacked Agrabah. I know this because they were all turned to stone and that's what his power is. The crystal was Crysita's doing. All I know about his Other was that he was from Twilight Town."

"Then there's Lilanti. She's a cute, innocent looking thing with blond hair and green eyes. If you run into her do not try to beat her in a battle of wits. You will lose. She might not have a heart, but she knows how to flirt with the best of them and often uses her looks and wits to her advantage. She turns things into plants. She's from Aurora's world, Sleeping Treasure."

"Carverin has black hair and blue eyes, the really tall one. He's overly serious but fights every chance he gets. I've seen him and Lilanti interact, and for having no hearts they do not get along. I did some research on it and found out that their Others were rivals at one point of time, meaning they're from the same world. Get too close to him and he will turn you into ice."

"The last one is Sarlio, who never seems to talk much. He's the one with dark red hair and silver eyes. All I know about him is that he can turn things into wood and enjoys burning down what he changes. He is also apparently from Radiant Garden, but I haven't found any files on him at all."

"Do they control certain Nobodies?" Riku asked.

"What?" She seemed utterly confused by this question.

"In the Organization each one could control a different type of nobody. Saix, for instance, control Berserkers while Roxas control Samurais."

"No, nothing like that," Midori replied.

"How do you know all this?" Mickey asked the question that was ringing through not only his mind, but those of Riku, Donald and Goofy as well (they heard most of the conversation, seeing as the Gummi Ship wasn't that big).

"I had a bad run-in with them, but Crysita didn't kill me," she said bitterly. "Something about me being both useful and amusing. I got away from them though and now I'll do anything to stop them."

"Midori, did they say what they were after? You mentioned that they want children's hearts and strong souls, but why?" Riku questioned.

She frowned and said, "I'm not sure exactly. They never really mentioned that. I only ever got one little clue towards it, but only one."

"What was that?"

"They just kept saying something about Twilight's Destiny, whatever that is."

No one noticed it at the time, and it wasn't until much later, looking back, that Riku realized that King Mickey had reacted to those words in more than confusion. There was a look of horror, slight disbelief, confusion and most of all fear on the mouse's face. He knew what Twilight's Destiny was, and he hoped to all the deities out there from every world that Midori had heard wrong.

Unfortunately not a single one of them answered his prayers.

**VVVVVVVVVVV**

**  
Author's Note**

So, this is truly introducing my OC Midori. Yes, I know, like other clichéd stories the new girl uses a Keyblade but oh well.

I also drew and then illustratored a basic picture of her. More like my friend gave me the outline of a body with the spots for eyes and everything since I can't actually draw people myself. I can draw a pretty good Scooby-Doo, Nemo and Stitch though! I also have a picture of her Keyblade but I'll let you all know when I get that online, ok?

So, tell me what you all think of this chapter! And thanks for the reviews!

_**Krystal Lily Potter**_


	15. Meeting the Enemy

**Shadows of a Dream**

_**Chapter Fourteen – Meeting the Enemy**_

Sora groaned lightly in his sleep and shifted slightly. His eyes slowly opened and he blinked while looking around the small room, momentarily forgetting where he was. Fortunately for him though, he realized where he was before panic could set in and he was delighted that he had yet to be struck over the head by anything here. Well, nothing that could do any damage to knock him unconscious. Ogre babies proved to be interesting little creatures with amazing aim and throwing skills.

'_Why the hell are you awake?'_ Roxas groaned in his head. _'I was still sleeping until you started thinking a mile a minute. It's not good for you! We both know how you react to thinking.'_

'_You're just insulting yourself too blondie,'_ Sora mentally replied. _'I've just decided that I'm going to be offed by getting hit in the head, or by some kind of head injury.'_

'_Well, considering you've been tripped and crashed into a rock, had darkness implanted into your body enough to suppress me, hit in the head by another rock thanks to your ape friends, hit by several baby bottles now, a couple of smacks from Kairi for being stupid and falling down a hill while being chase by tiny people…Yeah you're going to die or at least get brain damage. Sucks to be you.'_

'_You are me.'_

'_Oh right. Well go to sleep, or at least check why Nami—I mean Kairi has her head under the blankets like she's going to suffocate herself. We can't have that, someone needs brains in this relationship!'_

Sora laughed lightly until he realized that was Roxas said was true; Kairi was completely buried under the blankets. He nudged the lump and whispered, "Kairi?"

She shifted slightly before peaking out over the dull, brown comforter that the two shared and into his eyes. "What?"

"Why are you under the blankets?"

"I don't like this place," she replied with a grim look. "I mean, we've been to some bad places and I don't mean to sound like such a prissy princess, but this place is disgusting."

"Imagine it before Fiona came here," Sora said while grinning at her. He quite liked Fiona, she was a nice enough woman with a very optimistic view on life. He and Shrek, however, butted heads a couple times over safety and various other little topics, and the had only been there for a few hours!

Kairi shook her head, effectively breaking from out of his thoughts, and crawled closer to him and said, "We're leaving tomorrow, right? They don't know anything about a keyhole, so we can just leave."

"Well, I was thinking that we could hang here for a little whi—" The joking grin that had been plastered on his face vanished and he squirmed uncomfortable, pain flashing through him as she roughly pressed her knee towards his crotch.

"Keep talking and this will hurt a lot more."

"We leave in the morning," he said quickly while wincing.

"Good boy," she said sweetly before releasing him and laying at his side with a grin on her face. "Remember, I can do more than just hurt that area. In fact, I could do the opposite if I wanted to."

Sora's face turned about fifty different shades of red, some previously unknown to mankind. He heard Roxas snigger sleepily in his mind before saying, _'A little out of character for her, but what can you expect from a tired, disgusted princess?'_

Sora rolled his eyes as he hugged the girl close and fell to sleep.

**VVVVVVVVVVVVVVV**

"Aren't they the cutest things ever?" Fiona gushed as she held the rather calm, female baby. Her eyes seemed to twinkle with laughter as she watched Kairi slowly stir awake.

The young girl looked up and jumped back with a small scream. She ended up nearly sitting on Sora's stomach, and the added pressure caused him to shoot up, slightly winded. His eyes darted back and forth, and his Keyblade appeared in his hand before anyone could blink.

The baby ogre's giggled and clapped at the flash of light and the 'toy' that appeared in the older boy's hand.

He blinked before sighing and the Ultima Weapon vanished. He rubbed Kairi's back soothingly and gave her a peck on the cheek before saying, "It's alright."

"I'm sorry," Kairi said while looking up at Fiona like a deer caught in headlights. "I'm just, nervous I guess. We've been jumping around so much lately into places I'm seriously not used to."

"It's alright," Fiona said soothingly.

"We just scare her," Shrek said, his accented voice causing Kairi to wince. She whimpered lightly and moved closer to Sora, if that were possible since she was sitting on him already.

The door burst open and Donkey flew in out of breath. "DONNNN-KAY is in the house!" He seemed to strike a pose and Kairi giggled as the dronkies all tackled him to the floor.

"You are an immature idiot and I am embarrassed for you," they heard Puss in Boots say as he too walked into the house.

Sora quirked his eyebrow at the interesting characters before saying, "Anything happening anywhere else?"

"No, aside from all those bad life-sized puppets around. They just look like people turned to wood," Donkey said quickly. "Where's the fun in that? You need to paint them with funny colors and maybe give them an amulet! Sparkle! Sparkle! Sparkle!" Everyone gave him the oddest look before he shrugged and walked away.

Kairi reluctantly got off of Sora to allow him to stand, but made sure to hold his hand tightly. She eyed Shrek warily but said nothing.

"Life-sized puppets?" Sora asked slowly.

"Yeah. Well more like wooden statues. If I wanted a statue made of me, I'd have it in diamond or something," Donkey replied, completely forgetting his earlier weirdness.

"Looks like you'll have to deal with wood. Crysita isn't here to make your crystal-wishes come true," a low, yet threatening voice said.

Everyone turned and saw a tall young man with dark red hair and striking silver eyes staring at them with an almost crazed look. His eyes glanced at all of the children with what could only be described as hunger before saying, "Such pure hearts."

"You! You're one of the Nobodies aren't you!" Sora yelled as his Keyblade appeared in his hand again.

The young man eyed the Keyblade warily before saying, "We are the Half-Hearts idiot. You better remember that."

"You're not coming near ma children," Shrek growled and took a step out of the open door. Fiona carefully moved the children closer into the house while Puss and Donkey followed Shrek outside.

Sora turned to Kairi and said, "Stay with Fiona in case he gets past us, alright?"

She nodded her head and silently called Oathkeeper, although she let go of his hand rather reluctantly. Once she did let go she quickly retreated to Fiona and the children while Sora rushed outside.

"So, you're the Keyblade Master?" the man said while quirking an eyebrow. "I expected…well…something more."

Sora glared at him and snapped, "And you're from the idiot group of Nobodies that think they are stronger than the Organization. I took out almost every one of them."

"If I had a heart I'd be laughing at how idiotic that comeback was," the Nobody said. "However, since I do have a sense of honor, or at least I did, I will let you know who you're destroyer is, Sora. My Name is Sarlio. Remember it. Fear it." With that a giant, decorative, wooden club appeared in his hand and about thirty dusks appeared around him.

Shrek attempted to attack the Nobodies with his large, green fists, but it was useless, they simply bent and twirled around him. Donkey too, was having the same problems while trying to hit them with his hooves. Puss had a little more luck, actually landing some hits with his thin sword. Unfortunately his sword did very little, if any, damage to the Nobodies.

Sora quickly swung Ultima, killing one of the Nobodies. Two more attacked in its place though.

'_Fight like I would!'_ Roxas suddenly cried out in his mind.

Sora didn't understand the message, but the second Roxas stopped speaking the Oblivion Keyblade appeared in Sora's left hand, without being in one of his Drives.

He didn't pause to wonder about this. Instead he jumped up to attack with both blades. Slamming them into the creatures he slowly made his way to Sarlio, who was in the same position as when the attack started.

Seeing Sora close in on him, Sarlio leapt into the air and brought his club down in the direction of Sora's head. He darted out of the way just in time, knowing that the blow would have crushed him easily.

Sarlio swung again, but this time Shrek got in the way, grabbing the club to stop it.

"Big mistake freak," the Nobody said. A dark brown aura seemed to engulf both of them and Sora yelled in shock as Shrek was turned into a wooden statue.

"Shrek! No! Talk to me buddy! You're prettier than a tree! Well not really, but you can eat a tree reme—" Donkey too was turned into wood before he could finish his sentence.

"You hurt my friends and now you shall be vanquished!" Puss in Boots yelled and tried to lunge forward, but Sora grabbed him.

"Stay back or he'll do the same to you," Sora warned, holding his Keyblades warily as he set Puss back down, carefully not to hit him with Oblivion.

"You catch on fast," Sarlio said as he lunged at Sora. Sora struck back, his Keyblade clanking loudly against the wooden club. They continued fighting while Puss attempted to stop the lesser Nobodies from running inside the house. Those that did get past were met by Oathkeeper and quickly destroyed.

Suddenly there was a loud roar and the red and pink dragon appeared. Sarlio jumped away from its flames, careful to make sure his club didn't catch fire.

The mother dragon was about to lash out again when she was trapped in pure crystal, glittering in the sun.

"Crysita," Sarlio whispered.

Sora turned slightly and saw a young woman dressed similarly to the male: a long-sleeved, black hoodie, a pair of black pants, black boots and black gloves. Their 'uniforms' seemed less elegant than the Organization's.

The female seemed to take her time walking forward. She pushed her hood down and stared at Sora coldly. A crystallized staff appeared in her hand and she twirled it like a baton while saying, "So, you're Sora huh? I've heard a lot about you."

Sora said nothing, but stayed on his guard, his eyes moving from one Nobody to the other.

Crysita seemed to purse her lips for a moment before saying, "Don't be so high-strung, Sarlio isn't going to hit you with your back turned, he's too honorable for that unfortunately. I am a different story though."

"What do you want?"

"The children obviously," she said as if he was an idiot. "So get out of the way."

Sora seemed startled by this and said, "You're not going to freeze me?"

"Why would I do that?" Crysita asked with an almost flirty smile. "I still have a use for _you_ Sora. You're little whore, however, is fairly useless."

He felt anger bubble in his veins at her words. He held Ultima and Oblivion out threateningly and said, "Never talk about her like that again."

Crysita twirled her staff again before shrugging and throwing it at him. Sora managed to jump out of the way, but then he had to dodge Sarlio's club.

"Sora!" Kairi's voice called out in horror as the two Nobodies gained up on him. She rushed out of the house and slammed her Keyblade into Crysita's side. The older female yelled in pain and turned around, a dangerous look in her brown eyes.

Crysita turned and dodged Kairi's Keyblade. She quickly knocked Kairi's feet out from underneath her, and then a beam of light appeared from her staff and hit Kairi's leg.

Sora yelled out as her leg started to turn into crystal, he tried to get to her, but Sarlio continued to block him.

Now both of her legs were crystals.

"Get out of my way!" Sora yelled and swung Obilvion. Sarlio's cry of pain caused Crysita to turn around and stare at him with wide eyes.

Although Nobodies couldn't feel emotions, they certainly could feel physically. Crysita felt her stomach turn unpleasantly at the sight of Sarlio's arm that was laying on the ground, amputated from the rest of his body.

Sora ignored what he had done and rushed over to Kairi. He knelt beside her and hugged her tightly. Tears were streaking down his cheeks, mixing with hers before it landed on her legs. They started glowing and the crystal vanished, just like in his dream.

Kairi looked around and saw that both Crysita and Sarlio were gone. Sora helped her up and both turned to look at the door to Shrek's house. Much to their horror it was broken open.

Kairi led the way as they ran in. Fiona was on the floor, sobbing and muttering, "I couldn't save them. I—they're gone."

Puss sat beside her, patting her shoulder gently.

Sora gulped and looked over his shoulder at Shrek, Donkey and the dragon. He looked at the puddle of blood and Sarlio's abandoned arm.

"We'll get them back Fiona," Kairi said firmly. "I swear it."

Fiona looked up at her, stared in her eyes and nodded firmly. She took a deep breath and said, "I believe you. I'll go to the Kingdom and warn my cousin, King Artie to keep the rest of the children safe. Be careful." Puss in Boots nodded in agreement.

Later on, Sora and Kairi watched as Fiona and Puss left to the main city in Far Far Away. Sora had his arm around her shoulder, and Roxas and Naminé were beside them in the same position.

"Goddamn them," Sora cursed lightly. "I swear I'll make them pay."

They turned and traveled through the portal that appeared behind them. Neither of them noticed until they were already through, but the portal they had walked into was created from the darkness that Roxas used and the light that Sora used at the same time.

**VVVVVVVVVVVVVVV**

**Author's Note**

I actually have a reason for updating before the whole '3 reviews per chapter' thing this time. I like to update on occasions, and since I'm busy tomorrow I had to update today. So let me get this out of my system ok?

HAPPY early CANADA DAY! To all those who are Canadian and anyone else who cares. OK I'm done.

So what did you all think of this chapter? Good? Bad? Happy? Sad? –starts humming- Anyways…ignoring me…

Tell me what you think and I'll see how fast I can get the next chapter up.

_**Krystal Lily Potter**_


	16. Memories

**Shadows of a Dream**

_**Chapter Fifteen - Memories**_

She felt like she couldn't breath, and her head was spinning. They were spiraling through a mixture of darkness and light. When Roxas and Sora had both (unintentionally, of course) opened portals of darkness and light respectively, they couldn't have known what would happen. Normally they would just walk through one portal to another, but this time they were twisting, turning and falling uncontrollably. Sora held Kairi close to him while squeezing his eyes shut.

"Wall!" they heard Roxas yell, but he didn't appear. They both looked down (or maybe it was up, they weren't sure anymore) and saw a blurred, brick wall rising quickly towards them.

They heard Naminé scream in surprise a second before they crash into the wall. Time seemed to slow down when they were half-ways through it and the wall started to ripple as if made of water.

Roxas sat on the top of the clock tour with Hayner, Pence and Olette. All of them ate ice cream like they always did.

Roxas was fighting with a blackened apparition of himself.

Naminé called to Roxas to use the Keyblade.

Nobodies attacked Seifer, Fuu and Rai.

Roxas fell from the clock tower while communicating with Kairi.

The gang from Twilight Town: Hayner, Olette, Pence and Roxas all sat on the clock tower while holding their crystals towards the sun.

Roxas winning the Struggle.

Hanging out in the Usual Spot.

Usual Spot…

…Usual Spot…

Darkness…

**VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV**

A loud bang echoed through the empty, back alley streets. A blond haired boy slowly opened his hazel eyes and looked around with confusion. He was lying at the edge of the Struggle ring, his friends laying around him.

"Olette, Pence," he said as he shook both of them. They both slowly opened their eyes and looked around. The others in the area started slowly getting up.

"What just happened?" Pence asked.

"Do you remember," Olette started. "What we found out? About another Twilight Town?"

Both boys nodded.

"Well I think we just got some of the memories from our alternate selves."

"Roxas…" Hayner muttered. "You know, he's one memory, whether it's truly mine or not, that I'm glad got back."

"What happened?" they heard someone else ask. People started whispering about a boy they all suddenly remembered, a certain blond-haired boy that they had 'forgotten'.

"We should go to the Usual Spot," Pence said. "It's just a feeling I have."

The other two nodded and they quickly ran up the road.

**VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV**

Sora groaned and opened his eyes that he had squeezed shut. It took a moment for him to get used to the light again before he sat up and looked around. The first thing he noticed was Kairi unconscious in his lap, and the second thing was a string of painful curses echoing through his mind as Roxas muttered about yet another headache.

The final thing he noticed was his surroundings: brick buildings, a ragged curtain covering a doorway, an old looking couch, and a sky that had a permanent sunset.

'_Twilight Town,'_ he heard Roxas whisper when he calmed down. There was a sad yet happy tone twisted in his voice. _'We're in Twilight Town.'_

"What's the deal Pe—Sora?"

Sora turned around, his eyes landing on the friends he had made before in this same place. He felt Roxas gasp as he said, "Hayner, Pence, Olette."

"Is she ok? Are you ok?" Olette asked frantically as she rushed over to him.

Sora looked down at Kairi as she started to shift in his arms. Slowly her eyes opened and she looked around, confusion evident on her features. Her eyes met the emerald pair that stared at her and she said, "Olette!"

"Looks like you got her back," Hayner said with a grin as Sora helped Kairi up.

Sora blushed lightly and nodded, "Yeah. I'm glad to see you all are alright too."

"Why wouldn't we be?" Pence asked.

"You never know," Kairi said with a shrug. She went to take a step forward but swayed slightly.

Sora caught her and said, "Maybe you should sit down."

Hayner quickly rushed over to the couch and cleared off the blankets that had been stacked on it to make some room for the girl. Sora quickly scooped her up before walking over and setting her down.

"How did you guys get here?" Pence asked curiously as Olette sat down next to Kairi.

"The same way I did last time, just more violently," Kairi said with a wince. "We were falling and there was a brick wall coming up to us. I thought we were going to smash into it."

Hayner quickly sat down where he usually did, and Pence followed suit. Sora stood for a moment, with all intentions of continuing standing, but his legs started moving without his permission and he ended up sitting down in the place that Roxas usually sat in the fake Twilight Town.

'_Sorry,'_ Roxas whispered.

'_It's alright,'_ Sora replied before turning his attention to everyone else. "Has anything odd been happening here lately?"

"You have no idea," Hayner said darkly. "It was the weirdest thing. Just before you guys showed up everyone in the city passed out at the same time."

"Everyone?" Sora and Kairi echoed.

Olette and Pence nodded as Hayner continued speaking, "Yeah, but here's the weirdest thing. We remembered someone that we had forgotten, a boy that used to be here. He was friends with us."

"I think the memories weren't actually ours," Olette spoke up. "I think they belonged to the other us in the fake Twilight Town."

"W-who did you remember?" Sora asked. If anyone else had noticed the way his voice seemed to jump between two different ones, they ignored it.

"Our friend Roxas," Pence said while looking down. "I agree with Olette, it's probably the memories of our fake selves made real, but it's strange knowing someone but knowing that you actually haven't met them before."

"You have met Roxas though," Kairi said quickly. "You just didn't realize that you were talking to him."

Sora nodded and said, "He really misses you guys…the friends he thought he had. He thinks about you a lot."

"You know Roxas?" Hayner asked while jumping up. "Where is he? Why was he in fake Twilight Town?"

"So that he could be contained while we waited for Sora to wake up," Kairi said. Or at least, Kairi's lips moved, but it wasn't her own voice.

"What?" Olette asked.

"I was forced to tamper with Sora's memories. Afterwards I started fixing them, but had to put him to sleep for a year to do so. To fix his memories faster we brought Roxas closer to him to see if it would work. It did."

"Naminé?" Sora whispered. "That's why I was in that bubble-flower thing? And that's why Jimney had that note 'Thank Naminé', because you fixed all our memories?"

"Naminé? That's Kairi," Hayner said slowly.

"Kairi and Naminé are the same person," Sora explained. "Two halves to the same person just like…"

'_Sora,'_ Roxas said suddenly. _'Do you think it's possible for us to switch?'_

'_Switch?'_

'_Switches places for awhile,'_ Roxas said. _'I think we can if you let me. The second you want back in control you'll be able to.'_

'_Alright.'_

Everyone watched with shock as Sora started glowing a pale blue. Once the glowing stopped everyone looked back up at him and there was a collective yell of shock. There, sitting in the same spot, in the same position as Sora had been, was Roxas.

"Hey," he said with an almost shy grin.

"Roxas," Olette whispered in shock.

"Roxas!" they all yelled together and tackled him into a hug.

Roxas hugged each of them with a wide grin. Kairi laughed happily at them before Roxas turned to her and said, "Kairi, can you let her out?"

The redhead smiled warmly and was consumed in yellow light. When it faded Roxas found himself staring at the blond version of Kairi that he liked so much.

If possible, Roxas' grin got even bigger and he hugged her tightly. It was different, being real with a heart as opposed to be a Nobody.

"What just happened? Where did Sora and Kairi go?" Pence asked, breaking the silence.

Roxas and Naminé let go one each other and she said, "They're still here."

"Huh?"

"See, I am Sora, well half of him," Roxas explained. "And Naminé is half of Kairi. I was put in the fake Twilight Town while Naminé fixed Sora's memories. I disappeared when he woke up and we became one person again."

"So you're Roxas, but you're also Sora?" Hayner asked, confusion lacing his voice.

"When a person with a strong heart loses their heart a Nobody is created from the soul and body left behind," Naminé said while placing a hand over her heart. "We are Sora and Kairi's Nobodies. We're not normal Nobodies though. Normally, when a Nobody gets his or her heart back, they fade into darkness and the original takes over."

"You didn't though," Olette finished. "You two continued to exist, right?"

They both nodded and Roxas said, "We're the annoying voices that run around in their heads. Right now we switched places, but because they're the originals the second they want control again they get it."

"This is…beyond weird," Hayner said. "Overly weird."

Naminé looked around before turning to Roxas again and asking, "Are we staying here for the night?"

Roxas seemed to be looking at the sky for a moment before nodding his head and saying, "Sora thinks it's a good idea."

"You both can stay at my house," Olette offered with a grin. "My parents are gone for the week and even though I only have one extra room since Pence and Hayner are also staying over, I'm sure you won't mind."

Roxas and Naminé both flushed and both could feel embarrassment radiating from Sora and Kairi as well.

All the others laughed at them.

**VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV**

Roxas stared up at the night sky, his cerulean blue eyes taking in the slightly darker version of the twilight sky. This place never had night, it never had day, it was stuck in between the two times. The only ways to tell night from day were the clocks, and the colors of the permanent sunset. When it was night, the sky was more of an orange-red and when it was day, it was more yellow tinted.

He and Sora had a chat as everyone prepared to go to sleep at Olette's house. Sora insisted that he and Naminé stay as the visible ones while they were in Twilight Town.

A small grin appeared on Roxas' face. Although he didn't have a heart and body of his own, he didn't feel like an underling to Sora as he thought he would. He was glad to have such a kind and friendly Other.

He turned around and saw Naminé roll over in the bed and stare at him for a moment. She smiled at him before saying, "Get some sleep Rox, we'll need it."

"We're leaving tomorrow, aren't we?"

Her smile turned into a frown and she said, "Kairi thinks so. I don't think she wants to make us leave, but her and Sora are right, we need to stop these Half-Hearts."

Roxas nodded when he heard Sora whisper, _'Besides, we can always come back afterwards.'_

He hadn't thought of this, but it was true, he could open dark portals and so could Naminé.

Roxas jumped beside Naminé, causing her to laugh. He happily wrapped his arms around her and said, "Night Nam." He leaned forward and kissed her quickly.

Naminé flushed, considering that was her first real kiss, Roxas' as well.

They grinned at one another before closing their eyes and falling into a peaceful slumber.

**VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV**

**Author's Note**

Well there's some actual Roxas/Naminé! Haha I just saw WALLE last night and it's so cute. If I didn't have this already planned out the way I wanted I would so add it in!

Well I don't have much to say so thanks for the reviews and see ya next time!

_**Krystal Lily Potter**_


	17. Falling Again

**Shadows of a Dream**

_**Chapter Sixteen – Falling Again**_

A shatter and a scream woke Kairi from her sleep. Panic shot through her as she got up and looked out the window. There was nothing interesting outside, but still she went and pulled on her pink tank-top with a pair of black shorts. She made sure to attach her small pack to her side with some medical items as well as the Oathkeeper keychain that Sora had given back to her.

She slowly walked out of her room after slipping on a pair of white socks and shoes. She carefully listened for anything else suspicious when she realized something: it wasn't calm outside, it was just completely black and she couldn't see out.

Suddenly her red hair turned into blond with a different style. Her clothes changed into a simple white sundress and her shoes into blue sandals. A gasp escaped her lips and she realized that she wasn't on Destiny Islands, but the scene before her was the exact same.

Naminé whipped around when she heard Olette scream and started running towards the living room of the house. The brunette was staring out the window with a horrified look on her face. Naminé came up beside her and looked out of the window and what she saw made her cringe: Heartless and a lot of them. She felt panic starting to arise from both her and Kairi.

"Roxas!" "Sora!"

Olette couldn't help but shiver at the eerie sound of two different voices saying two different things from one person. Impressively Roxas was at her side in a second, Oblivion at the ready in his hand.

Hayner and Pence entered the room and looked out the window to see what was happening. It was pure chaos outside.

"We've got to get out of here," Roxas said quickly. He turned to Naminé and added, "Bright out Oathkeeper."

"I don't know how to fight," she replied with alarm. "And I can't use a Keyblade!"

"You're Kairi right? She can so you can too."

Naminé stared at him for a moment before holding out her hand and closing her eyes. A moment later Oathkeeper materialized in her outstretched hand.

"Keep close to us, whatever you do," Roxas warned before kicking open the door and swinging Oblivion at the same time. Sure enough he caught three unsuspecting Heartless with the blade.

They continued running through the streets, looking for a safe place to go. There were even more Heartless in that city than there had been on Destiny Islands.

Naminé was proving to be very able with the Keyblade just like Roxas predicted. How couldn't she be? She technically was inside of Kairi during all the training sessions Sora and Riku had put her through.

"Pence!" Olette screamed suddenly as the boy tripped and stumbled to the ground. He panicked as several Heartless grabbed his legs.

Roxas shot around and started bashing at the Heartless, but was tackled down by some soldier Heartless. He didn't know what happened, he didn't know where he was, but the next thing he knew, when he destroyed the mass amount of Heartless that seemed to think creating a dog pile on top of him was the best idea, he was alone.

"Naminé?" he called out, his blue eyes darting around nervously. "Kairi? Hayner? Olette? Pence?"

He continued to look around and felt a wave of nausea pass through him when he saw a mass amount of blood in the spot he had last seen Pence.

"No," he whispered with horror lacing his voice. "No, it can't be."

'_Those bastards,'_ Sora hissed angrily. _'We'll find a way to get him back Roxas, I promise.'_

"Get him back?" Roxas asked.

'…_We both know he's a Heartless now. I swear it, we'll find a way to give people their hearts back,'_ Sora said with a strong resolve in his voice. _'I'm coming out.'_

The next thing Roxas knew he was back in Sora's mind, and Sora was the real one again. As strange as it was, when they switched back the Oblivion Keyblade vanished with Roxas and instead the Ultima Weapon appeared in his hand.

Sora slung it over his shoulder and started running. He wasn't sure where he was going, but he knew he had to be somewhere. Roxas soon informed him that they were heading towards the Old Mansion in the forest.

On his way he had to fight through what seemed to be an entire platoon of heartless, maybe two or three. Quickly he flipped over a Large Body and slammed his Keyblade into it's back, destroying it before he continued on.

Suddenly he stopped in mid-step.

There was Naminé in front of him fighting with Oathkeeper, but that's not what shocked him.

Hayner and Olette both had Keyblades as well. In Hayner's hands was Bond of Flames and in Olette's was Rumbling Rose.

Snapping himself out of his state of shock he rushed forward. Now was not the time to inquire about where they got the blades, now was the time to fight.

All of them seemed surprised to see Sora instead of Roxas, but after a split second of shock they all continued fighting. In the midst of the fight Kairi took control of her body again.

Sora had to admit, Hayner was good with a blade, Olette, however, needed some serious training. If anything jumped or came to close to her, she could bash it away, but for the most part Hayner was protecting her.

Sora was about to destroy another group of Heartless when they simply vanished. Confusion set in as he looked around as more and more vanished but the confusion faded when he heard a familiar cackle.

"Well, well, if it isn't the little Keyblade Master?"

"Maleficent!" He yelled while facing the despised witch.

She stared at him with narrowed eyes and an evil smirk before saying, "Such poor manners to your superior. I trust you've enjoyed what I've done to this world, Destiny Islands and so many more." Her eyes roamed over the group. "And it seems the whispers are true, more and more Keyblade bearers are appearing, just like before." Her eyes fell on Kairi and an almost hungry gleam appeared. "And you brought a Princess of Heart to my doorstep, how kind of you."

Sora stepped in front of Kairi and growled, "Touch her and die."

Pete suddenly appeared and whispered something to Maleficent. Her eyes widened and she yelled, "What? Those wretched Half-Hearts took Wonderland from me? How dare they! Deal with them now Pete." He quickly waddled off.

Sora stored the fact that Maleficent had no more love for the Half-Hearts than she did Organization XIII, deciding that he could use that later on. For now he had to get all the Heartless out of this place before they turned everyone.

Like they did to poor Pence.

Maleficent waved her staff and the Heartless surrounded them again.

Sora glanced at Hayner and Olette, both whom had tears in their eyes and a look torn between fright and sadness on their faces. He could feel the sadness and self-blame coming off of Roxas, and from himself as well. He looked down at Kairi's face, and the tears that he knew belonged to both her and Naminé broke his heart.

The sadness and self-pity vanished as quickly as it had come. Roxas' confusion at his sudden change was noticed, but ignored for the moment. He let go of Kairi and raised Ultima in the air.

"I'll teach you for messing with my friends, for destroying worlds and for destroying lives," Sora yelled at her.

Maleficent looked almost amused as Sora jumped into the Heartless, ignoring Kairi's cries for him to come back. What happened next shocked them all, Roxas, Naminé and the evil witch included.

A light started to form where Sora had rushed into the Heartless. It dimmed for a split second before the light exploded. The light covered the entire area, taking every single Heartless into its grasp.

The light faded and everyone unshielded his or her eyes and every single Heartless was gone. In the sky thousands of hearts fluttered in the air before vanishing and there, standing in the midst of it all was Sora.

"You're next witch," Sora snapped, and even though he appeared tired and wobbled a bit, their was a dangerous tone to his voice.

Maleficent was many things, but she was not stupid. The boy had somehow just destroyed an army of Heartless in one go; imagine what he could do to her?

"We'll meet again boy," she snapped before vanishing in a whirl of green fire.

Sora continued to stand there, staring at the spot where she had stood a moment before.

Kairi rushed up to his side and said, "Oh my gosh! Are you alright? What did you do?"

He looked around to her and stared into her eyes with a goofy smile before falling unconscious.

**VVVVVVVVVVV**

"Maleficent!" Pete's voice cried out. "Maleficent!"

"What now you bumbling idiot?" the witch snapped. "I thought I told you to take care of the Half-Hearts."

"It's not that. Just before you came back it vanished."

"What vanished?"

"Remember, we were rebuilding it after that Ansem guy destroyed it?"

"Kingdom Hearts?" Maleficent asked, panic coursing through her as she quickly moved through the Castle that Never Was. "What do you mean it vanished?" Before he could answer she pushed a door open and walked out onto the balcony to look at the permanently dark sky.

Sure enough, just as Pete said, the heart-shaped moon that they were slowly rebuilding had vanished.

**VVVVVVVVVVV**

Sora slowly opened his eyes and found himself on a rather uncomfortable carpet. He sat up and asked, "What happened?"

"That's what we'd all like to know."

He turned and saw Olette kneeling beside him with a concerned gaze. He couldn't look at her for long though, the guilt wracked through him at the sight of her teary eyes.

"I'm sorry," he croaked out.

"It wasn't your fault," Hayner's voice came from behind the girl. "What happened to the town and Pence. You couldn't have known."

"We'll find a way to get Pence back Sora," a calm, comforting voice said. "I know we will." He felt the hair on the back of his neck stick up (well, more than they already did) as Kairi's breath gently blew against his ear. He glanced at his side and saw her resting her chin on his shoulder and her arms snaked around him in a tight hug. "I was so worried."

"What did you do?" Hayner asked. "To all those Heartless?"

"I don't know," he admitted after a moment. "I just—wait a minute. When did you two get Keyblades?"

Olette and Hayner glanced at one another before she said, "When Roxas-I mean you-I mean…well you know what I mean. When you guys were tackled to the ground by the Heartless ("Pence had already vanished," Hayner interrupted with a sad tone.) Naminé insisted that we run. She said she knew you'd be alright and would catch up. We started running but we were cornered. The next thing I knew this was in my hand and that was in Hayner's."

Their blades appeared again.

"Rumbling Rose," Sora said as he touched Olette's. "It's a good one for fighting. And yours Hayner, Bond of Flames, has a sad story behind it."

"Really?" Hayner asked while looking at it.

Sora nodded and said, "Before Roxas came to fake Twilight Town he was running with a different group of people. One of them, Axel, was his best friend. Axel knew that Roxas was my Nobody, and after we became one person he tried everything to try and turn me into a Heartless again so he could get Roxas back."

"He was the one that kidnapped me," Kairi explained.

"Him? He and Roxas were friends?" Hayner asked, torn between shock and anger.

Sora nodded and said, "It's a long story and we don't have time for it now but Axel regretted all he had done. It wasn't like he was evil; he just wanted his friend again. It seemed that he changed his mind about making me a Heartless though, because after we went into the realm of darkness he sacrificed himself to save me. He gave me that Keyblade just before he died."

"That's so sad," Olette said.

"You deserve it Hayner," Roxas said as he appeared in his spirit form beside Sora. "Axel was my best friend, but so are you. He would want you to have it."

"What now?" Naminé asked as she appeared beside Kairi.

"We search for survivors," Sora said grimly.

"We did Sora," Kairi said sadly. "You were unconscious for an entire day. There's no one else left."

Sora breathed deeply before saying, "Then we keep going."

Roxas and Naminé stood up and whispered to one another. They both raised their hands together and a black portal appeared. Naminé glanced inside and gasped loudly.

"What is it?" Kairi asked.

"Radiant Garden," Naminé replied in awe. "We finally made a portal to Radiant Garden!"

They were about to go in when Sora called for them to wait. He was kneeling on the ground writing on a piece of paper with a blue pen (both of which seemed to appear out of no where, but no one bothered to ask where they had come from). He looked at his letter for a second before nodding his head and standing up.

"I need you to give this to a guy named Leon, alright?" Sora said and held it out to Olette. "Go there and train as hard as you can. I'll try to find a way there later."

"You're not coming?" Hayner asked.

Sora shook his head and said, "I can't. I know there are other worlds out there that need help right now, and I'm not going to abandon them yet. You two need to train, and Kairi—"

"You are not getting rid of me," she snapped while prodding him with her index finger. "We've been jumping from world to world together for a couple months now, and I'm not leaving you after all that."

They stared at one another before he nodded and said, "Alright."

"Are you sure?" Olette said as she glanced at the portal.

"Don't worry, you'll be fine," Kairi encouraged. "We'll get there as soon as we can."

She and Hayner both nodded before walking through the portal.

"So after all our hard work, we finally find Radiant Garden and you're not going to go?" Roxas asked while rolling his translucent eyes. "Nice."

Naminé nudged him in the ribs as she dismissed that specific portal and said, "Where to then?"

"Open one and we'll see where he end up," Sora said. He took Kairi's hand tightly in his as their Nobodies opened a different portal before going back into their bodies.

"Lets go," Kairi whispered and together they continued to walk into the unknown.

**VVVVVVVVVVV**

**Author's Note**

Poor Pence. I'm so mean. I was actually considering giving him a keyblade too, but decided otherwise.

So, what does everyone think of this chapter? I'm trying my hardest to edit it, but I know I miss things too.

Any comments, questions, concerns or anything else send them in review, PM, email, it doesn't really matter to me.

However, remember, **_3_** reviews or no update next time.

Thank you to Iaveina and DAN88! You guys are the best! Extra cookies to both of you!

_**Krystal Lily Potter **_


	18. A Sense of Pride

**Shadows of a Dream**

_**Chapter Seventeen – A Sense of Pride**_

"Awwwwww!"

Sora sneezed as some really tall grass got in his nose. Where were they, the world of giant grass people?

"You're sooooo cute!" Kairi gushed as she attempted to rush over but ended up flipping onto her back. "Oops."

Sora laughed when he finally got a good look at her and realized where they were. Sora walked over, his crown chain hitting the lighter fur on his chest as he said, "You'll get used to walking with four legs." He nudged her to help her stand up.

"You're adorable," Kairi said, still giggling over his lion-cub form.

"So are you," he replied as he glanced at her mahogany fur, stripped with black and bright indigo eyes. She wore her shell necklace around her neck still. "But we need to teach you how to walk." He attempted to show her how, but ended up stumbling over his own paws.

Her laughter echoed around the open plains and she said, "I need to learn?"

"In Jimney's journal he wrote that I seem to have four left paws, so I don't count," Sora said while sticking his tongue out.

Eventually Kairi figured out how to use her four legs and the two were soon heading to a large rock in the distance.

"Why are we going there?" the tiger cub asked. She had pointed out a few moments after she got the hang of walking that tigers and lions did not actually live in the same place aside from Zoos, but Sora just shrugged and said that no one would notice.

"That's Pride Rock, where my friend Simba lives. We're in Pride Land and he's the king here," Sora explained. "Maybe we'll see Timon and Pumbaa again too!"

"You sure make both interesting and odd friends," Kairi replied while nuzzling him affectionately.

Sora flushed before he heard what could only be described as a tiny, rather pathetic roar reached his ears. A second later a small, burnt-gold colored cub jumped in front of them, growling almost playfully.

Her eyes darted from Sora to Kairi and back again before she said, "Hi! Do you want to play with me? I haven't seen you guys before."

"We're not from here," Sora explained. "Aren't you a little young to be running around on your own?"

She frowned and said, "You two don't look much older than me."

"We're both 16," Sora said as the lioness's ears flattened against her head.

"Oh, you're old," she said, stressing the word old.

Kairi swatted Sora with her paw and said, "Ignore him. For our kind we're not old at all and we'll play with you if you want."

"Really?" her ears perked back up happily. "Thank you! I'm Kiara."

"I'm Sora and this is Kairi," he replied.

Her small brown eyes widened and she said, "Really? You're Sora? I expected you to be big like my dad. He told me all about you."

"Who's your dad?" Sora asked.

She opened her mouth to answer when her ears once again when flat on her head as another voice yelled, "AHA! There you are missy!"

Suddenly a little meerkat ran in front of her and said, "Do you know how much trouble we would have been in if you ran off! Simba would have eaten us! Or let Nala eat us!"

Kiara rolled her eyes and said, "Hello Timon."

"Don't hello me!" he said dramatically while throwing his hands around. "And what have we told you about talking to strangers? What if they were from the outlands?"

She almost seemed amused by this. Pumbaa came up and took in the scene before said, "Sora! It's good to see you again!"

"What? Sora? Where?" Timon said while whirling around and coming face to face with Kairi. "Ahhh! Please don't eat me!"

Kairi made a face and said, "Why would I eat you?"

Sora laughed and said, "Don't worry Timon, she's my friend."

Timon stared at Sora before yelling and running at him. He threw his arms around Sora's leg and said, "How ya been kid?"

"Pretty good, how about you?"

"Been stuck baby sitting," Timon said while pointing at Kiara. "This kid is a handful, just like Simba was. What can you expect though, she is his daughter."

"You're Simba's daughter?" Sora asked while looking at her in shock. His mind went back over everything that had happened in Pride Land before and remembered his last trip there. Simba had been depressed due to Scar's ghost appearing everywhere and suddenly it struck Sora. Only in passing, Nala had mentioned that there was a little cub on the way.

"So Sora, why are you here?" Pumbaa asked curiously.

Sora frowned and said, "There's trouble again, and Kairi and I are traveling to make sure everything's ok."

Kairi suddenly forced a cough and swatted at his head again.

"What?" Sora whined.

Kairi blinked cutely and said, "Who are your friends Sora?"

If he could blush he would have from embarrassment. "Oh, right. Kairi, these are my friends Timon and Pumbaa. Timon, Pumbaa, this is my er…well this is Kairi."

"You're what?" Timon asked with an almost sly tone of voice.

"Er…"

"Yes Sora, you're what?" Kairi asked with amusement.

"Um…er…I…hey, aren't you two supposed to be babysitting?"

"Yeah, why?" the meerkat and warthog asked together.

"Kiara's not here anymore."

"WHAT?" Sure enough the little lioness had slipped off when everyone was distracted.

"Ahh! Forget Simba! She's more difficult…like Nala!" Timon shouted while waving his hands around in the air.

Sora gave him an amused look and said, "Is that because she tried to eat you and Pumbaa?"

"No, it was because she tried to shower us with love and kisses the first time she met us," Timon said sarcastically. "OF COURSE IT WAS! Now she's really gonna eat us!"

"We'll help you find her," Kairi said quickly.

"Hmmm…I like her," Timon said after a moment. "Good job Sora. Alright everyone lets find us a little brat!" It wasn't showing through his fur, but Sora's skin was beet red.

None of them noticed the small, blue colored (banana-beaked) bird above them, circled for a moment before flying back towards Pride Rock.

**VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV**

They ended up splitting up to look for Kiara, and it was Sora and Kairi who found her first. They didn't reveal themselves to her just yet though. They found her playing with a young male lion. He had fur a little darker than Sora's and his small tuffs of what would be a mane were black.

"How cute," Kairi cooed as she watched them while nuzzling Sora.

They watched the two play for a moment until a loud, angry roar filled their rather sensitive ears. Kairi's flattened onto her head at the loud noise.

Suddenly a large, golden male lion jumped onto the scene, followed a second later by a dark, skinny lioness from the other direction.

"Zira," the lion, Simba, snapped as he nudged Kiara behind him.

"Simba," she replied with a low voice. She prepared to pounce but stopped when a large group of growling lionesses appeared around them.

"Get out of the Pride Lands," Simba growled.

"These lands belong to Scar," Zira replied.

"They never did and they never will," he snapped. "Take your cub and leave."

"Scar," Sora whispered angrily. "He was Simba's uncle who killed his own brother to become king. Simba defeated him, but he then became a Heartless and we all destroyed him. Afterwards his ghost stared haunting Pride Land but we got rid of that too." Kairi nodded and jumped as Timon and Pumbaa appeared at their side, hidden in the shadows of the grass.

"She's a no-good lioness, Zira," Timon said.

"So we'll stay here with you," Pumbaa finished.

Kiara had slowly been slinking away from the confrontation. She spotted Sora quickly ran over and hid behind them to hide from her angry father.

Zira was starting to retreat but stopped when she saw this. Her cruel eyes focused on the unfamiliar animals in front of her. She eyed them for a moment before hurrying off.

"Kiara, come here," Simba said to her. She flattened her ears and moved a little more so that she was invisible behind the figures of Sora and Kairi.

"Er…hi Simba," Sora said reluctantly, realizing that this wasn't a good time for reunions.

Simba stared at him and smiled before saying, "Sora, it's good to see you again. It's too bad that it had to be under these…circumstances."

"What's going on?" Sora asked slowly.

"That lioness and those with her supported Scar," Simba said with a light growl at his traitor uncle's name. "That boy was her son who was chosen as Scar's heir. Who you are not supposed to be talking to. Come here Kiara."

She slowly slinked out from behind Sora and stared at him with her big brown eyes. Nala walked over and shot Sora a smile before saying, "Come Kiara, back to Pride Rock."

"But mom," she whined. Nala sighed and picked her cub up by the scruff of the neck with her mouth before walking off.

"Why are you here? Is there anything wrong?" Simba asked as soon as Nala and the rest of the lionesses vanished from view. "And who is your friend?"

"This is Kairi," Sora replied while nudged her gently. "Kairi, this is Simba."

"Hello," she greeted pleasantly.

"And as for trouble, there is some, but your home seems to be safe," Sora said with a frown. "Are there many children here?"

"No," Simba replied while shaking his head, his red mane flying everywhere. "Only a few in the Pride Lands and the outlands, Kiara and Kovu included. Most of the children are kept in the Oasis, which is pretty far from here because it's safer than the open land."

"They shouldn't strike here," Kairi said after a moment of thought.

Sora shook his head and said, "I just have this feeling that we're being dragged through certain worlds on purpose. We're here for a reason Kai. Roxas and Naminé are never able to pinpoint certain locations anymore, but they were able to find Radiant Garden when we needed it for Hayner and Olette. No, we are definitely here for a reason."

"Oh," Simba said suddenly. "Sora, I think you left something here."

"Like what?" Sora asked with confusion.

With a flash of light the Keyblade Circle of Life appeared in Simba's mouth.

Sora stared in shock before saying, "N-no, I didn't. Simba, that's yours I think."

"Mine?" Simba asked as it vanished. "How?"

"Our other friends got Keyblades too," Sora said with a shrug. "I don't know how though. I suppose that means you can protect Pride Land though."

"So you won't be visiting anymore?" a curious female voice asked.

"Kiara! What are you doing here?" Simba growled.

Her ears flattened slightly and she said, "I came back to see what you were doing." He sighed at his daughter's reply and shook his head again.

There was a sudden loud bang, and everyone ducked to the ground. A moment later two people appeared in front of them, arguing rather viciously.

"Jorix, you are an idiot!"

"Shut up Lilanti!"

"I told you this place only has, like, two children worth taking! The rest are impossible to find!"

The male, Jorix, looked around and said, "Lions and—hey! Isn't that little lion the Keyblade Master and the tiger the Princess?"

Lilanti looked around, her eyes falling on the group of animals, three with Keyblades in their mouths. "Oh dear, you're right." She seemed to look around almost nervously before she spotted another lion cub in the tall grass, watching quietly.

"Hey cutie," she said while snatching him up, vines crawling around Kovu's little paws as he struggled. "Don't you have a strong heart? You know, I think we'll take you anyways."

"Let him go!" Sora yelled as he shifted his Keyblade to his tail.

A loud roar was heard as Zira suddenly showed up and threw herself at the Nobody, attempting to get her cub back. Lilanti dodged out of the way and laughed as Zira was slammed to the ground with a stone sword that Jorix pulled out.

"Grab the other one," Lilanti said.

Jorix slammed Simba out of the way and grabbed Kiara, who struggled against him.

"That's what you get for messing with the Half-Hearts," she said in a sickly-sweet tone. "Bye bye." With that another black portal appeared and the two nobodies ran though.

"No! Kiara!" Simba yelled.

"You!" Zira snapped, approaching Sora angrily. "It's your fault that my son is gone."

"What?" Sora asked with confusion. "I didn't do anything."

Zira was about to strike him but Simba tackled her away. He glanced at his friend and said, "I know it's only short-lived, but you need to go."

"We'll find her," Kairi said. "We'll bring her back."

"I know you will."

**VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV**

**Author's Note**

Me: (is glaring at the screen)

HSH: (my annoy cousin who goes by the pen name Holly Skyla Hart) What are you glaring at now?

Me: The chapter

HSH: Why??

Me: (pouts) I don't like it. I love the Lion King and thing chapter stinks like…Pumbaa!

HSH: Yeah…well ignoring that…

Me: Hmm…well thank you for all the reviews!  Giant super-chocolate-caramel-cunky-cookies to everyone!

HSH: I got a stomach ache the last time we ate those

Me: Me too, but they're soooooo good. Thank you to Iaveina (yes, control is great. Trust me, don't feel bat for Half-Hearts AT ALL), DAN88 (LMAO), Kanie (Thank you), Yenattirb (Thanks, I'm glad you like it so far!) and…Holly Skyla Hart…thanks for the…long review cuz…god you're a spazz

HSH: No prob—I AM NOT!

My cousin peer pressured me into writing that part as a skit like I used to when I was younger. Why? Because she's is about as normal as a glowing green apricot that dances and wears a tutu.

Again, tell me what you think of the story! The _**rule of 3**_ still applies! (lol) The sooner I get at least _**3**_ reviews the sooner I update! It might be a day or two after I get all three but it'll be faster! Promise!!

HSH: you can flame her too, she's always amused by flames!

Me: You're usually the one that flames me

HSH: (shrugs)

Me: You are an idiot. Ignore her readers! Catch ya all neck time!

_**Krystal Lily Potter**_


	19. Of Visions and Pirates

**Shadows of a Dream**

_**Chapter Eighteen – Of Visions and Pirates**_

Shadows danced in front of his vision as he took a step forward. It was hard to see anything, but he knew there were figures in front of him. They were both the same slightly taller than average height, male but they had different styles of spiky hair. They were so familiar; yet different from the last time he had seen them so many months ago.

"Sora? Roxas?" he called out, his voice echoing loudly. Neither of them turned to acknowledge him.

Both of them were slowly walking forward staring at the pure white, but decorative hallway, studying the patterns on the walls. They were talking to one another, but the words never once reached his ears.

Suddenly both of them stopped walking and talked to one another for a minute before a door to their right flew open. A woman cloaked in brown ran out of the room, holding a small bundle in her arms. The place seemed to shake for a moment and her hood fell down.

"Ayame?" he whispered, recognizing Sora's mother. She was younger than the Ayame Hikari he knew, but it was definitely her. Tears were streaking down her cheeks as she stumbled to the ground. He got a good look at the baby and gasped when he saw a pair of cerulean blue eyes and dark brown hair. There was no question that the child was Sora. The two things that shocked him though were how pale the baby was, and the spots of blood on the blanket.

Ayame got to her feet and checked her child with worry. Once she appeared to be semi-happy with baby Sora's condition, she kept running and was out of sight. The older Sora that was watching this seemed incredibly confused.

Everything faded to black before a room made of marble, gold, silver and stone materialized around Roxas, Sora and him. All three looked confused, although the first two weren't aware that there was a third with them.

Suddenly Roxas grabbed Sora's arm and swung him around to face the same direction. Both boys looked and gasped at what they saw. In front of them was a giant diamond shaped as a heart with visible white light moving in one side of it and darkness in the other half.

Several people were around it, all wearing long white cloaks, their faces hidden by their hoods. They were chanting something, each holding out a hand with their palms facing the diamond. There was a flash of light before stone started appearing around it in a large sphere. Soon the diamond heart was completely hidden in the plain looking sphere.

There was a sudden burst of light and a woman with pale skin, pure white hair and silver eyes was visible for only a second before the world went black.

**VVVVVVVVVV**

Riku shot up, confusion running though him as he wiped the sweat off of his forehead. The old hammock he was in swung from side to side as he moved to get up.

Standing on the wooden floor of the Black Pearl, he shook his head. He quickly checked on his friends and saw King Mickey asleep, quiet as a mouse (he had to chuckle at his own though, of course Mickey was quiet as a mouse, he was one), he was the quietest one though. Every once and a while Goofy with let out a 'hyuck' in his sleep, but that was barely visible over Donald's loud snoring. Riku was becoming accustomed to it though. He was starting to see why Sora liked these guys so much.

A frown appeared on his face when he realized that the newest member of their team wasn't a sleep, nor was she in the room for that matter.

Careful not to wake anyone, Riku left the room and climbed the stairs of the ship. He took in a deep breath of the salty air as he reached the deck, and the image of Destiny Islands appeared in his mind, but only for a moment. He continued his search for the green-haired girl, but it didn't last long. He spotted a leg stretched out on the side of the ship, the knee-high brown boots and dark blue, jean shorts were enough to tell him that it was her.

"Midori?" he called out quietly.

The figure, hidden by another part of the ship, looked around while pushing her hair out of her dark brown eyes. Once they settled on Riku she grinned and said, "Hey Silver, what are you doing up?"

He sat on the edge of the rail of the ship, just by the ends of her feet and said, "Do you think dreams mean anything?"

She frowned and said, "That's a stupid question, you know I do. Remember what I told you about my dream with Sora in it? And those two other Keybladers, the ones that Sora sent to Radiant Garden, they told us about their dreams when we stopped by. It was the same with Arial before she got Mysterious Abyss. Dreams mean a thing-or-two around here Silver. Why do you ask? Have a significant one?"

"Sora and Roxas were there," he said while frowning. "I saw Sora's mother, she was running, and it looked like Sora, as a baby, was hurt pretty badly. I didn't recognize where they were though, and until he was fourteen Sora never left Destiny Islands."

"Are you sure about that?" Midori asked.

"When Kairi showed up Sora was the one that found her. She actually fell into the water and he went in and rescued her. I never really thought anything of it at the time, he was only five and I was six, but it was amazing that he was able to drag her out of the water because of how tiny he was. Anyways, that a bit off topic, but long story short, Kairi's arrival made us ask questions if we'd been on the islands for all our lives or not, and all our parents said yes," Riku said, a wistful look in his eyes as he remembered his happy, simple childhood.

Midori smiled slightly and said, "Was that all, in your dream?"

Riku shook his head and said, "No. The scene changed and we were in a different room. There was this giant diamond heart in the middle of the room with darkness and light in it. There were people around it, chanting something and a stone sphere surrounded it. I—the entire time Sora and Roxas, the ones we know, were there as well, but they couldn't see or hear me, and I couldn't hear them. They kept talking to one another though."

She frowned and said, "I don't know what that could mean but—"

"Oh! I just remembered! At the end there was a flash of light and there was a woman with white hair, really pale skin and silver eyes. It was only for a second though…"

"Hmmm…you know that sounds almost familiar for some reason," Midori said while resting her elbows on her thighs and placing her chin in her hands. "I'm not sure where I would have seen her though. Most people where I come from are either tanned or their skin is a really dark brown. Well one of my best friends wasn't, but he was the weird one."

He eyed her tan for a moment before shrugging and saying, "Tanned, black, brown, white, what's the difference? We're all still people. Hell, we're friends with different types of creatures too."

She smiled sadly and said, "I wish everyone had that outlook on life."

Riku stared at her before turning his eyes up to the starry sky, noting (with a wince) that there were visibly less stars than the night before.

There was a sudden, loud yell causing both of them to turn around. A rather tired yet happy looking Jack Sparrow was standing a few feet away from them, his dark eyes wide and his arms around a large jar of dirt.

"Jack?" Midori asked as she jumped back from the ledge of the ship. "What's wrong?"

"What's right lassy?" he said happily. "That spit of land be what we're looking for."

When they had arrived in this world they were on a ship sailing away from an island with all of the native people yelling from the beach. This had been confusing enough, but when dealing with Jack Sparrow nothing was as it seemed.

"Tomorrow I'll be free," Jack sang happily. "Where's that fellow that had the fancy suit and the funny wig from before? The one that looks like slop now?"

"Norrington?" Riku asked while raising an eyebrow.

Jack pointed at Riku's face, his dirt fingernail a centimeter away from his face as most as he said, "You, young man, are a smart lad."

"You, Jack Sparrow, have been in the rum again," Midori replied with a sigh.

"Aye lassy," he said with a huge smile.

"What are we looking for exactly?" Riku whispered to Midori, but Jack heard him.

"We're looking for a chest boy," Jack said, his eyes darting around. "The chest that holds the heart of Davy Jones."

"Ah right, the Nobody who isn't technically a Nobody because he was never turned into a Heartless, he cut his own heart out."

Jack seemed to glare, although it was obvious that he had no clue what Riku was talking about. Jack tried to walk away but ended up stumbling as a rather rough wave hit the side of the ship, almost making him lose his jar of dirt. He stumbled to get up while making sure that the jar was tightly in his clutches.

"Here Jack," Riku said, attempting to take the jar from him, but the pirate refused and seemed almost hostile. Riku was no idiot involving Jack Sparrow though; he knew that the pirate was a manipulative man(he has seen that when Jack traded Will over to Davy Jones) and was best left alone when he was in certain moods.

"My dirt," he snapped.

Midori sighed as she looked out at the horizon, watching the sun begin to rise in the distance. Twilight appeared in her hands as she held it up, comparing the color of it with the brightening sky. Riku noticed she did this at both sunrise and sunset in every world they had gone to.

Jack eyed the blade with a sense of wonder and said, "You know, I could use one of those. Zola showed me that I couldn't take them though."

"Zola?" Riku asked with a raised eyebrow.

"He means Sora," Donald quacked as he came onto the deck.

"What's going on?" Goofy asked as he and a silent Mickey also appeared on the scene.

"We're going over to that island," Riku explained. "The chest is over there, or so Jack thinks."

"This be the first spit of land in the direction that Lizzy told us," Jack said while waving one arm around wildly.

Lizzy (the rather annoying nickname that Jack had given Elizabether Swann) appeared behind them with Norrington a few moments later. The rest of the crew seemed to be rising as well.

"Mr. Gibbs, prepare two boats to go to shore," Jack called out. "Elizabeth, the former corridor, his highness, those two ("Donald and Goofy," Donald snapped) and these two ("Midori and Riku," she said, knowing full well that Jack wasn't listening.) are coming with me as well."

**VVVVVVVVVV**

"Sora makes the weirdest friends," Riku commented as he and Goofy paddled their dingy towards the shore. King Mickey and Donald both agreed whole-heartedly. He tried listening in on the conversation Midori was having with Captain Jack in the other small boat, but all he could get was that they were arguing about something.

Riku's mind turned solely to the girl. She was naturally a sweet girl with a smile on her face and a soft tone of voice. At first Midori reminded Riku much of Kairi, but that proved to be an incorrect assumption. Midori, when angered, was not something to cross. As fiery as Kairi could be (Sora in particular was afraid of her anger) Midori's was nothing to compare it to. When she was mad, she was really mad. She was a fierce fighter and was stubborn, always needing to have her way. Her sweetness seemed to last until she actually was familiar with the person she was dealing with, then her stubborn attitude seemed to take priority in her mind.

Although she was newer to a Keyblade, and Riku could easily overpower her with his, her magic surpassed all of them except for Donald's. She knew how to fight, but the Keyblade was different from all other weapons.

He broke out of his thoughts as they hit the beach, and all of them turned to Elizabeth. She got out of the boat and started walking around with the compass, a confused and rather flushed look to her face until she sat on the ground with a huff.

Her eyes darted to Jack Sparrow and she said, "There!"

"Where?"

"You're standing on it!"

Everyone backed off as Norrington started digging.

"Gawrsh, why is he the only one digging?" Goofy whispered. "Isn't that kinda mean?"

"Shut up you big palooka," Donald whispered back, as much as he could.

Riku sat down on the sand, staring out at the ocean with fascination. Midori came and sat beside him. She stared out at the water and said, "I like the ocean and the warmth. Where I come from it's usually cold and there are very few oceans."

"I thought most people from your world were tanned or dark?" Riku asked while raising an eyebrow.

She didn't look at him as she said, "Just because it's cold doesn't mean we don't go outside, but at the same time just because people have darker complexions doesn't mean we're always outside."

"You know, you've been with us for a month now and we still don't know much about you," Riku observed. Both turned when they heard Jack yell something at Pintel and Ragetti, something about watching his dirt, but then turned back to the ocean.

"You haven't told me much about you either," she said while drawing odd patterns in the sand. "You're an enigma to me Silver."

"How so?"

"You fight for your friends," she said, not looking at him. "And because they dwell in the light, or closer to the light, you fight for that as well, but it's not your nature. You have a dark aura to you. Not a black one, but a darker shade of grey. You wield Way to Dawn, meaning you're in the night but are heading towards the morning. You've walked the darkness in a way more complete than Sora has and you are nearly the opposite of Kairi."

"How can you know all that?" he asked, no emotion on his face.

"You might hide your emotions to most, but I don't look at what's on the outside. I can feel things, and I'm feeling you right now (his cheeks got a pale tint of pink to them, but it went unnoticed by Midori). Certain people have a natural ability to feel things like I can. I also got the feeling, although it was fuzzy because it was only a dream, that there's more to Sora than beats the eye. From what I felt, he goes with his gut instincts (Riku nodded at this) but I think it's more than just that. He feels like I do, but he isn't aware of it."

"I don't understand," Riku said after a moment.

"You don't need to yet," she said as she finally turned to him. For a moment Riku looked uncomfortably in her brown eyes, feeling rather revealed before both jumped at the sound of a loud clank.

They stood up and turned around as Jack whooped happily, Elizabeth stared at it with wonder and exclaimed, "It's real!"

"You actually were telling the truth," Norrington added

"I do that quite a lot. Yet people are always surprised," Jack muttered.

"With good reason."

Everyone turned around and there stood a rather unhappy Will Turner.

One thing Riku could tell that this was about to get a lot more interesting.

**VVVVVVVVVV**

**Author's Note**

Hope this makes up for the last chapter (horrible)

HSH: No, you still suck

What are you doing here? Go away

HSH: NO! IF I GO OUTSIDE I WILL BREATH IN THE AIR AND THE PLANTS WILL MAKE ME COMMIT SUICIDE!

…You are never watching The Happening again…anyways thank you to those who reviewed. I really appriciate you struggling through that last chapter.

HSH: So to make it up to them you made a horrible attempt at a cliffhanger, and you're not even going to continue it in the next chapter.

Pretty much, yeah. Thank you Iaveina and DAN88!

HSH: I reviewed too!

Why should I thank you? You came over to my house and stole my movies!

HSH: (laughs while spinning on a chair)

Ignoring the idiot here…tell me what you think of this chapter. I hope it's a little better than the last one at least. Remember, at least _**3**_ reviews or no updates! Catch ya'll next time!

HSH: PURPLE MONKEY DISHWASHER!!

…

_**Krystal Lily Potter**_


	20. Peace in the Snow

**Shadows of a Dream**

_**Chapter Nineteen – Peace in the Snow**_

"What is this place?"

Sora grinned at Kairi as he held her hand tightly. She shuddered at his grin, staring at the pointed teeth with slight fear. She knew he would never hurt her, but she had never liked the thought of vampires. Although that was his fault for making her watch these horrible vampire movies when they were younger.

He touched the crown on his head that had replaced the pumpkin (oddly enough). He liked this more than the pumpkin at any rate.

His blue eyes, which stood out more than normal against the black and grey tones of his skin, turned to Kairi and stared at her clothing. There was a witch's hat that went down and covered one of her eyes. She had a blood red dress on that was rigid and cut at the ends where it stopped at her thigh and had long sleeves that feathered out rigidly beyond her hands, knee-high black boots, and a black cloak thrown over her shoulders.

Kairi too was inspecting herself and couldn't help but giggle at their attires. She felt like she was about to go trick-or-treating.

"This is one of my favorite places," Sora said with a huge grin. "Halloween Town."

They walked through the gates and Kairi's grip on him tightened a bit at the sight of Halloween Town Square. It was littered with bright orange lights, but Kairi shuddered a bit at the sight of the guillotine and couldn't help but stare in awe and fear at the skeleton reindeer.

"Jack?" Sora called out. "Jack where are you?"

"Hey, I know you!"

They both turned around and saw what looked to be a small little girl. Sora cocked an eyebrow and asked, "Shock?"

The little witch stared and him and said, "You're the one who killed Mr. Oogie!"

"Twice," he reminded her. "Where's Jack?"

"I don't know," she said as she jumped back into the bathtub that was nearby. Kairi couldn't help but gasp when it started to walk away with Lock, Shock and Barrel in it.

"Never trust those three," he warned Kairi. "They may seem small and harmless, but they thrive in causing as much trouble as they can. Now, lets find Jack."

"Are we looking for the Jack Sparrow you mentioned?" she asked curiously.

"No, we're looking for Jack Skellington," Sora replied. His eyes turned to the full moon in the sky and he said, "You know, I had a dream about Jack Sparrow recently. Actually, I've been remembering all kinds of dreams I had, all with different people. I woke up one night, you were still asleep; I had just had an odd dream about Jack and I got the feeling that I had similar dreams before, but I just didn't remember them. I convinced Naminé to go through my subconscious memories, and if they were there to let me remember them. She found them. In every dream I was on a stain-glass platform, I had seen them before because I was on one in a dream before I got my Keyblade. The oddest thing is that I was giving other people Keyblades and explaining why they got them. I gave Jack Sparrow Follow the Wind."

"Who else did you dream of?" Kairi asked.

"Simba, Aladdin, Hercules, Ariel, Mulan, Peter Pan, Hayner, Olette, Stitch, Jack Skellington you and…"

"And?" She ignored the part about her, not wanting to admit that she wouldn't be able to pinpoint the dream because she had so many involving him.

"Naminé found a memory in the back of my mind. Apparently I had a dream where I gave Riku Way to Dawn, but that doesn't make sense because he was supposed to be the Master originally, not me. Oh, I also had a dream with you in it too but I gave you Oathkeeper, not the girly Keyblade."

"Simba, Olette and Hayner already got Keyblades," Kairi said, choosing to ignore his comment about Riku for now, but grinning at the mention of the 'girly Keyblade'. "So maybe that means that everyone else is going to get them as well."

"Why though? And why did I have to give it to them?" Sora asked more to himself than anything.

"Maybe it's because you're the Keyblade Master, the Chosen One," she said as she stopped walking, forcing him to stop as well. Kairi came up close to him and put her forehead on his chest before adding, "You're the strongest of us all Sora, whether you want to see that or not." She didn't know what he was talking about when he mentioned Riku being the true Master, but she wasn't going to bring it up again.

Sora smiled warmly at her and hugged her tightly. He looked up as he heard a sound, causing a bit of her hair to get in his eyes. Seeing the dark red color mix with the bright orange lights caused another memory to appear in his mind.

"Oh! There was another person. There was this girl, around our age I think. She got a Keyblade too. This one was called Twilight. I can't remember her name though."

Kairi frowned and jerked away from him so suddenly that it startled him. She crossed her arms in front of her chest as she turned her back to him and asked, "Is she pretty?"

"Huh?"

"Was she pretty?"

Sora rolled his eyes and wrapped his arms around her shoulders. She tried to jerk away from him but he just held tighter. "Why would you ask that about her but not Ariel or Mulan?"

Kairi frowned slightly and said, "I don't know. I'm sorry."

Sora couldn't help but notice how ashamed of herself she sounded, so he tightened his grip on her and kissed the side of her neck.

She giggled and said, "Get away from there. I don't want you biting me."

He was confused for only a moment before laughing and saying, "But I'm a vampire Iri."

She laughed as his grip loosened and she ran away from him slightly before saying, "Well I'm a witch and I'll turn you into a toad if you come near me."

"But you want me near you," he said while grinning innocently.

She stared at him for a moment and screamed as he jumped at her. Her scream quickly turned into laughter as he grabbed her around the middle and playfully nuzzled her neck. There was just something about being in a costume that made the kids in them come out.

Another giggle caught Kairi's attention and she turned slightly, seeing what looked like an over-sized, living doll stitched together. She gasped in surprise, causing Sora to look up.

His face turned bright red from embarrassment and he cleared his throat before saying, "Hi Sally."

"Hello Sora," Sally said as she walked towards them. "And you must be Kairi."

Kairi nodded and raised an eyebrow at an embarrassed looking Sora, who shuffled his weight from his right foot to his left before asking, "Where's Jack, Sally?"

"He went to visit Sandy Claws," she explained. "Jack was quite happy with how this year's Halloween turned out and he wanted to see how Christmas was coming, since it's only three days away."

"WHAT?" both of them yelled together, eye wide. The islands had been attacked in March, and they hadn't thought they were gone that long. Now that Kairi looked back, they had gone to many words so far; some they just passed through, others they stayed for a night, and some they stayed in for a week or two. It made sense that they would have been gone as long as they were.

"I'm sure you remember the way," Sally said. "I'd show you but I need to help the Professor. It was good seeing you again Sora, and nice to meet you Kairi."

"You too Sally," Kairi said sweetly as Sora started to drag her off. "Sora! Slow down!"

"Sorry," he said to her as they stared walking in the direction of the trees.

Sally grinned at them and sighed happily before saying, "It's amazing to find the person you love at such a young age."

**VVVVVVVVVVVVVV**

Sora laughed happily as he landed in the snow and rolled down a small hill. His grin (pointed teeth or not) was contagious and soon Kairi found herself giggling on the ground with him.

"This is another world within Halloween Town," Sora explained to her as he jumped to his feet, pulling her along with him. He turned slightly and said, "Welcome to Christmas Town."

Kairi couldn't help but gape at the small town in front of her, as they stood high on Yuletide Hill. It was like the perfect little world of snow, lights and decorations. She didn't protest as Sora suddenly started yanking her down the hill and towards the place.

Sora grinned widely as they rushed towards the small town, and relief swept over him when he realized that this place hadn't yet been attacked by either the Half-Hearts or Maleficent. Then again, there weren't many children in Christmas Town (although some of the elves could be mistaken for them) and the ones in Halloween Town definitely would not be on the list of the Half-Hearts. Sora had no clue what Maleficent was up to, not even in the slightest, but she wasn't the biggest threat at the moment.

"This place is…" Kairi trailed off, unsure of how to describe it. She held out a hand as a light snow started to fall. After all of the traveling she had done with Sora she had experienced her fair share of snow, but this was the first time she actually could enjoy it. It was the first time she noticed the different shapes of the tiny snowflakes as they clung to her dark shirt and it was the first time that she could see the beauty and the magic in it all.

Sora stared at her with a small smile that got wider as he watched the snow stick to her long eyelashes. He chuckled slightly before putting his arms behind his head and slowly walking towards Santa's Workshop. Still, he kept all his senses on the girl, just in case something happening.

Kairi seemed to have come to the realization that she was left behind. Quickly she sprinted after Sora but ended up slipping in the snow and sliding down the hill. Sora turned but didn't manage to jump out of the way (Not that he tried, as Roxas later pointed out). Both of them tumbled down the hill, laughter echoing through the snowy hills, pine trees, and small gingerbread-like houses that they drew closer to.

In a flutter of snow Sora landed on his back with Kairi on top of them, both still laughing hysterically. They stopped and stared at one another, their grins never once leaving their faces. Before, this might have made both of them feel and act incredibly awkward, but neither was bothered anymore.

Sora nudged her lightly and she got off, laughing as she shook his head and snow flew out of his spiky hair. She couldn't help but feel giddy as she frolicked in the snow with Sora.

She turned to inspect the town, now that they were at the very edge of it. She already preferred this place to its darker counterpart. Suddenly her eyes snapped to a figure that was very out of place in this town.

"Umm…Sora?"

He turned around and followed her gaze to the tall skeleton in a suit. A smile appeared on his face as he called out, "Jack!"

The skeleton looked around and said in a jovial voice, "Sora!"

Sora rushed over with Kairi right behind him. "How have you been Jack?"

"Good, and Halloween was a big success this year. Now who is this beautiful young lady?"

Kairi blushed lightly and Sora said, "This is Kairi."

"Ahhh, you found her," Jack said with a smile. "I knew you would. Hello Kairi, I am the master of fright, the demon of light, Jack Skellington, the Pumpkin King!"

"It's nice to meet you Jack," Kairi said with a smile. His friendly attitude won her over already, despite his scary appearance.

Jack turned to Sora and asked, "Are you coming to see Sandy Claws? He's really busy."

"You're not trying to help him, are you Jack?" Sora asked in a suspicious voice, causing Kairi to raise an eyebrow.

"Not like before. This year I just offered to help wrap presents and such."

"That was nice of you," Kairi commented.

"Why thank you young lady," Jack said happily. "Now come on, I think Sandy Claws was taking a small break in his house."

Sora followed Jack, his grin growing by the moment. Kairi knew why, but her mind wouldn't accept the childish reality that was laid out in front of her.

Her eyes roamed over the back of Sora's head as Naminé said, _'Is it such a surprise that he believes without a doubt?'_

'_Well he was here before.'_

'_Yes, but in his memory the second that someone mentioned seeing Santa Claus he believe it.'_

Kairi just giggled with affection for the boy.

They entered a small house that seemed to be connected to a large factory beside it. Kairi squeezed Sora's hand tightly as they ended the room, and her eyes widened. There, standing in front of her, was a jolly old man with a tummy like a bowl full of jelly, and long white beard decked out in red clothes lined with white.

"Hoooomygod," she said quickly in a whisper. "Sora! It's Santa!" The last part was said a little louder than she had meant and attracted said man's attention.

He stared at them for a moment before grinning and saying, "Sora, it's good to see you again. I see you've been a good boy this year." Kairi giggled at Sora's flushing face. "And you must be Kairi, one of the Princesses of Heart. You'd be on the good list except for the small flaw that you did not believe that I existed. Hmmm…seems to me that you stopped believing when Sora did. I must have a chat with that Riku lad."

Kairi blushed slightly, but couldn't help but feel a peeved at their silver-haired friend.

"Santa," Sora said, suddenly serious. "Have you noticed any trouble around here?" (AN1)

"Not here lad," he said while shaking his head. His small eyes looked down at the Naughty or Nice List with a frown. "There are so many children missing though. I'm worried. Not even I know where they are."

"It's a group of Nobodies calling themselves the Half-Hearts," Sora explained. "They're taking children and we're nearly positive that they've been killing people to take their souls."

"We think it has to do with the purity of their hearts," Kairi added. "But we're a little skeptical of that too because they haven't aimed for the Princesses of Heart yet."

"Maybe they don't know who the Princesses are," Jack suggested, trying to seem helpful.

Kairi shook her head no and said, "They knew I was one."

Santa stared at the list and said, "Not a single child, no matter how they're brought into this world, has darkness in them at the moment of birth. In their younger years most have either none or very little amounts of darkness in their hearts with some exceptions. Most, as they get older, accumulate more darkness, it's common in most people. There are those that retain little or no darkness. The princesses are good examples as well as you Sora."

"Me?" he asked, seemingly startled. "But I have enough darkness in me to create a Heartless."

Santa chuckled and said, "Yes, but wasn't it a rather, forgive me for the bluntness, pathetic Heartless?"

Kairi squeezed Sora's hand again and nodded, "He wasn't aggressive at all. He just kind of stood there and was smaller than most."

Santa nodded and said, "The smaller and less aggressive a Heartless is, the less darkness there is in a person."

Sora couldn't help but jump a bit as he said, "Those tiny Heartless we've seen! The ones asking for help!"

"They want nothing to do with stealing hearts," Santa agreed. "But that's all I know."

Sora stared at the ground and said, "Why are they collecting children's hearts and the souls of others?"

Santa shook his head negative, showing that he had no clue why. "I don't know, but I know who would."

"Who?" Sora, Kairi and even Jack asked eagerly.

"Maleficent."

Sora winced and Kairi looked down. Her eyes locked on the list and said, "I wish someone with a Keyblade could be here to protect this place and Halloween Town. Imagine if the Half-Hearts got their hands on that list?"

Sora's eyes lit up as he looked at Jack and said, "Jack has one, or at least he will get one."

"How did you know that?" Jack asked, astonished. "I was coming to ask Sandy Claws if he would know why I got a Keyblade, but he didn't know."

In Jack's bony hand Decisive Pumpkin appeared in a flash of light.

"We don't know why either Jack, but keep an eye over this world and Halloween Town," Sora said with a quick nod. "I have a feeling that it's important to protect our own homes."

Though neither of them said it, both he and Kairi could hear the words 'unlike us' echoing in the air.

Suddenly, breaking the tense mood, Kairi yawned widely before blushing. Sora grinned and wrapped his arm around her shoulder comfortingly.

Santa smiled and said, "You can both stay here in the guest room. I can tell you're both in need of a good rest."

"Thank you Santa," Sora said and went to move, but Kairi didn't. He looked down in confusion and couldn't help but grin. She fell asleep while leaning against him.

Rolling his eyes Sora picked her up bridal style and followed the elf that asked him to follow him.

"Oh and Sora?"

Sora turned to look at Santa and Jack with curious eyes.

"I trust nothing will happen to get either of you on the Naughty List."

Sora's felt his face burn brightly as he blushed and stuttered before turning on his heel, following the chuckling elf away from both Santa and Jack's laughter.

**VVVVVVVVVVVVVV**

**Author's Note**

**AN1:** Say that ten times really fast! ("Santa," Sora said, suddenly serious.) Now that's alliteration.

And today I am lacking a Holly for comic relief, but that's ok with me, saves me a headache.

Thank you to those who reviewed. I really appriciate it! It's funny, with my Harry Potter stories I was getting up to 15 and sometimes even 20 reviews for a chapter, but I'm not at all upset by the smaller number this time (shrugs).

I'm excited! Tomorrow not only do I get to go on a road trip, see my friend's new apartment, but I also get to go to the midnight showing of Dark Knight!! I heard Heath Ledger did and AMAZING job!

Anyways, I'm done my rambling.

Thank you for reviewing!

**Iaveina** – OH! I know what happened! Your internet is haunted by the ghosts in the machine! Yeah I watched I, Robot recently…hint about Riku's dream, it wasn't just his. Glad you like Midori. I actually have a basic illustratored sketch of her as well as her Keyblade but I'll put that up later.

**DAN88** – lmao thank you! I take it you liked this chapter better than the last one! Don't worry, I did too! I love Jack Sparrow. If they ever make a KHIII he should be in it…or maybe in the one with Roxas! Put Jack Sparrow and Axel in a scene together! That'd be hilarious!

**RockCityRoadStar** – Thank you! I actually have been working hard on my writing skills…I'm trying! Don't worry about being annoying, I have a very high tolerenece for annoying people. Besides, you could never be as annoying as reviewer number 4!

**Holl-Ball** – You are only proving my point that you are spazztastic! No you can not have my nail polish, at least not until you give me my movies back!

Anyways…thank you to all you again!

Remember 3 reviews at least then an update. If you really want to motivate me 5 would be good! Pie for all!!

_**Krystal Lily Potter **_


	21. Better Left Unanswered

**Shadows of a Dream**

_**Chapter Twenty – Better Left Unanswered**_

Donald curled up in his blankets happily, dreaming of life back at the palace with Daisy. Unfortunately, his happy dreams were always interrupted as the dream versions of his nephews always ended up doing something stupid. Sometimes this caused him to wake up and think about how much, even if they got on his nerves, he did care about his nephews; most of the time it caused him to wake up wanting to zap them all with his thunder spell.

Suddenly Donald was interrupted from his sleepy musings. He looked around with confusion and saw Goofy sit up in the bed across the room from his. They both looked at the door with confusion before getting up and running out, their weapons in hand.

What they found was a confusing sight at least.

King Mickey had taken the autopilot off and was starting to fly like a madman (it made Donald miss Sora's flying from the first time the boy tried to fly the gummi ship), obliterating anything that crossed their path. Midori was standing in the middle of the room, her eyes wide with confusion, looking at the ceiling. She was holding on to one of the poles, having lost her footing in Mickey's take over of the ship and Riku was…stuck to the ceiling? Donald didn't want to know how that happened and he quickly silenced Goofy, who was going to ask about Riku.

"What's going on?" Donald asked as he approached the King. He kept his respectful tone, but as a friend he wanted to strangle Mickey for waking him from his sleep. They had a difficult time at Olympus Coliseum and would have ended up as Heartless if it wasn't for Hercules getting a Keyblade.

"We got a transmission from Disney Castle," Mickey explained, panic evident in his voice.

"What happened?" Goofy asked, suddenly alert.

"The Nobodies," Mickey said with a grim look. "The Nobodies are there. They haven't got into the castle yet, but Chip and Dale say it's only a matter to time."

Doanld quickly jumped into his seat to help make the trip easier and as fast as possible, Goofy doing the same as he jumped in the other seat.

Midori managed to get her footing back and winced where she had hit her cheek against the pole. Rubbing it with her gloved hands her eyes turned and looked up at Riku curious. They stared at one-another before Midori asked, "Hey Silver?"

"What?" He had long accepted this name, after unsuccessfully trying to put her off of it.

"Two questions: One, how are you sticking to the ceiling? And two, where did this pole come from?"

He blinked and said, "I'll be honest Midi, I have no idea."

Some questions were just better left unanswered.

**VVVVVVVVVVVVV**

Some questions were better left unanswered. That was what Sora had decided. He rubbed his head as he stood outside of the Beast's Castle (Or rather Prince Adam's castle? He wasn't too sure what to call it). Kairi stood beside him and Roxas and Naminé were both standing a little bit away from them, waiting for their Others to move. The question that floated around in his mind for the past few worlds they had passed through was: can things get any worse? The answer was yes, but he wished he hadn't gotten an answer at all.

"I wish we had stayed in Christmas Town," Sora said with a groan.

Kairi looked up at him and was surprise when she saw tears of frustration in his eyes. Her gaze followed him as he fell to the ground beside her. He repeated slammed his fist into the ground, until she could see some blood coming through the fabric of his gloves.

She knelt down next to him quickly and grabbed his hand and said, "Sora, calm down."

"Calm down? How am I supposed to calm down?" Sora yelled, causing her to back away from him. "I thought things were going to get better since Halloween Town. I was so sure of it. It's gotten worse. Every—single—world—we—have—gone—to—has—already—been—attacked!"

If she didn't know better, Kairi would say he was having an asthma attack, or possible a heart attack.

"Don't yell at her," Roxas snapped as he walked over to Sora. Sora was about to retaliate but Roxas growled and grabbed him by his collar, hauling Sora to his feet and pinning him against the wall. "No! I know it sucks! We're losing. I get that! Don't take out your anger on the people close to you though!"

Kairi stood up beside Naminé, both looking on with alarm.

Both boys took a few deep breaths before Roxas let go of Sora's collar, causing him to slump to the ground and bury his face in his hands.

Kairi was beside him again in an instant, rubbing his back and hugging him comfortingly. It wasn't often that she had to be the strong one, but she was actually thankful for the opportunity.

Roxas looked down, feeling slightly ashamed of his reaction. He looked up as Naminé hugged him tightly and said, "It's alright, you did what you thought was best."

Sora looked up at Roxas suddenly, staring at him oddly. He seemed to be studying every part of his Nobody, searching for something that only he could see.

"What?" Roxas asked, feeling self-conscious.

"How did you do that?" Sora asked slowly. "How did you physically grab me?"

That question startled all of them.

"I-I don't know," Roxas said. "I didn't even think about it."

Sora looked down before looking into Kairi's eyes. He hugged her back and said, "I'm sorry Iri. I didn't mean to yell."

She shook her head and said, "It's alright, even the best of us feel like we've hit rock bottom at times."

Sora stood up, pulling her with him. He looked and Roxas and Naminé and said, "I'm sorry to you two too. Without you we'd still be back in Enchanted Forest. No, we'd be dead back on Destiny Islands."

Both smiled and Naminé said, "It's alright."

"If it makes you feel better, we know Riku and the other's are alright," Roxas said while nodding to the castle. All of the inhabitants had been turned into what looked like trees of the people. However, they did find Riku's cellphone, obviously having fallen out of his pocket, and they found some feathers that came from Donald.

Sora grinned but that quickly turned to a frown and said, "Or that they were. They were here at some point of time, probably when this happened. I just wish that we could have been more useful in Oaky Oaks, Narnia, Sherwood Forest, or Neverland. All of the children were taken from those places, which is ridiculous."

"They're making a last minute grab," Naminé said nervously. "At least, that's what it seems like."

Kairi nodded and said, "She's right. I don't want to rain on us or anything, but we're running out of time. It's not all bad news though, because we found out that Peter Pan had a Keyblade too." No matter how much she tried the bad still outweighed the good, and they all knew it.

"Let's go," Roxas said after a moment of uncomfortable silence. "If we don't have much time we shouldn't waste it anymore."

They all nodded and once the black portal was created and the two nobodies were securely in their others, Sora and Kairi walked through the familiar passage, not knowing where they were going.

**VVVVVVVVVVVVV**

Minnie's dark eyes held panic in it as she rushed people farther into the castle. The gummi ship docks were sealed off, and everyone was gathering in the Throne Room. Nobodies surrounded the castle, but luckily Heartless still couldn't stand the light from the Cornerstone to join them.

It was still a mystery how the Nobodies could come so close to the castle, but they weren't taking any chances to find out. The palace was well guarded and everyone else was gathered together. Queen Minnie decided to use the strength in numbers approach.

"What's happening Aunt Daisy?" Huey asked her.

The Lady-in-Waiting turned to the little ducklings, all three whom she considered her nephews. They were all brave and adventurous, but at the moment all of them were shaking and clinging to her.

There was a yelp and everyone turned around. Max jumped away from a black hole that appeared in the middle of the room, fear evident in his face.

"They're coming," Dale yelled.

"Everybody hide!" Chip added.

The silhouettes of two people appeared, but they couldn't make out the features. Everyone watched, tense and wary, but as the figures started coming into focus Minnie gasped.

The first thing she recognized was the outline of spiky hair, and she knew who it was.

A second later the portal vanished and the two figures looked around in confusion until the male said, "We're in Disney Castle."

"Sora!" Minnie cried out with relief in her voice. She quickly rushed forward towards the Keyblade Master, and stopped a few feet in front of him. "And Princess Kairi! You're both alright!"

Sora looked down at the miniature Queen and saw tears in her eyes. A surprised look appeared on his face as he knelt down next to her and said, "What's wrong? What's happened?" He jumped as the Queen suddenly threw herself at him and hugged him tightly, but only for a moment.

"It's terrible Sora," she said. Everyone saw the tears now, not having noticed them coming from their strong Queen before. "Nobodies are surrounding the castle, we don't know exactly when Mickey and everyone else will be back, and we thought you two were gone for good."

Sora stared at her and didn't look up as Kairi came up closer to them and placed her hand on his shoulder. Her eyes stared into Minnie's as she said, "We'll go outside and fight the Nobodies."

"There's hundreds of them missy," Scrooge McDuck said while tipping his top hat in a sign of respect for the young Princess.

Sora looked down at the floor before looking up and saying, "We'll hold them off until Mickey and…who's with him?"

"Donald, Goofy, Riku and this girl named Midori," Daisy said to Minnie while she came over and hugged her mouse-friend.

"Midori," Sora whispered. "That was her name." He shook his head quickly then said, "Come on Kai, let's make sure they don't get in here."

She nodded and they both quickly ran out of the throne room, everyone watching them run by.

**VVVVVVVVVVVVV**

"Sora, wait!" Kairi called while grabbing his hand. They were right in front of the main doors now, which were taking an awful beating from the other side. They wouldn't hold for much longer, both Sora and Kairi knew this.

Sora turned and stared at her, only to end up stumbling against the wall as she threw herself at him. His arms encircled her automatically but his eyes widen in surprise as she kissed him deeply, but only for a moment. His eyes closed and he returned the kiss with equal passion.

They stayed like that for what seemed like only seconds before breaking apart. Sora stared at her curiously and she whispered, "For luck."

Sora gripped her tightly and said, "Let's show them what they're dealing with."

Kairi held out her hand behind him and Oathkeeper materialized in it. She stared at the white Keyblade over his shoulder for a moment before nodding.

A loud crash echoed throughout the empty halls of the castle. In a quick movement, a split second before it happened, Sora used the magic from his Keyblade to erect a shield around Kairi and himself so the splinters of the door would impale them.

"Oh my god," Kairi whispered, her eyes widened as Nobodies started flooding through the broken door. They weren't high-leveled ones, they were only dusks, but there were hundreds, most likely thousands of them.

Sora already leapt into action, slaying anything that came within an arms reach. Still, he wasn't going as fast and he could with Heartless. Nobodies were stronger than their other halves after all.

They fought a never-ending wave of Nobodies, both not taking a second longer to stop and breath than they needed. Kairi soon felt her arms beginning to hurt under the strain, and a light wave of nausea passed over her as she realized the horrible truth: there was no way that they'd be able to hold all of these…monsters off for much longer.

There was a bright flash of light and Naminé appeared next to her. She held out her transparent hand and fire erupted from it, destroying several Nobodies. Quickly she looked at Kairi and said, "You concentrate of beating them with the Keyblade. I've got the magic covered."

Kairi nodded and turned so that her back was pressed against Naminé's. She didn't take the time to wonder why she could actually feel her Nobody, but she did take a second to look through the flurry of twisting white bodies to see that Roxas too had come out of Sora and was using magic while Sora was fighting with two Keyblades.

"No!" Naminé yelled suddenly. Kairi twisted around slightly to look behind her and saw the panicked look on the face of her Nobody. Naminé looked at her and said, "They got through! They're heading to the throne room!"

Kairi looked around for Sora, but there was no way that he could get away from the onslaught. He turned slightly and looked at her for a split second before yelling, "Hurry Kairi! Stop them!"

She nodded and started cutting her way through the Nobodies trying to get to the throne room in time.

**VVVVVVVVVVVVV**

Midori stared out the window of the gummi ship with wonder as it approached Disney Castle. She was the first one to see it and didn't know what to say to everyone else. She turned slightly and said, "Nobodies. Hundred of them."

Riku stared at the scene with terrified amazement; it was like watching a sea of flexible white water.

"The doors," Goofy said suddenly. "To the castle, they're opened!"

Mickey let out an angry grunt before saying, "Donald, I need you to put shields around each of us, but not the ship."

Donald stared with wide eyes before nodded and waving his staff; transparent blue shields quickly surrounded everyone.

"Brace yourselves fellas!" Mickey called out as he headed towards the ground, not slowing down.

Midori let out a small scream and grabbed a hold of Riku. He stared at her for a moment as she said, "He's going to crash the ship into the Nobodies."

Riku gulped and braced himself for the impact, holding onto Midori loosely.

Everyone closed their eyes as the ship slammed into the Nobodies, destroying them as the ship skidded and rolled across the ground.

**VVVVVVVVVVVVV**

There was a slight pause in the battle as the Nobodies seemed to watch the burning ship with fascination. This gave Sora the time to drink a hi-potion, only wincing slightly at the bitter taste, before the battle commenced.

He could feel his energy sapping away from him, and had to remind himself that both he and Roxas were using his energy to fight. His limbs ached and his head pounded as he slashed at one white figure after another.

Roxas groaned, somehow feeling physical strain. He wasn't sure why he was, but assumed that he was feeling Sora's body weakening, since it was technically his body too.

A strangled gasp suddenly escaped Sora, causing Roxas to turn around, but he knew what happened before he actually saw. A sharp, strong pain seemed to originate from Roxas' untouched shoulder, the same place that Sora was grasping on his body. Blood seeped through Sora's fingers from where the Nobody had impaled him through his right shoulder.

The Ultima Weapon seemed to shake in Sora's hand for a moment before it fell to the ground, vanishing as Sora was unable to hold it anymore. Still, Oblivion was held in Sora's left hand and he continued to use it, gritting his teeth from the terrible pain that took over his body.

"Sora!"

He looked up and felt his breath leave him for a moment. He saw a flash of silver and it took him a second to realize what he was looking at.

"Riku," Sora said as he watched his friend. Roxas faded back into Sora, unable to hold himself anymore.

Riku turned to look at his friend and felt a smile appear on his face, despite the circumstances at the moment. He was just glad to see his friend again. His smile quickly turned into a frown, his green eyes flashing in panic as Sora's eyes closed before he fell to the ground, unconscious.

Mickey burst through the crowd, glancing at Sora for a moment before nodding at Riku and heading towards the throne room. Riku ran to Sora's side, first checking for a pulse. Luckily he found one easy enough.

Midori appeared at Riku's side and asked, "Is he alright?"

"I hope so," Riku replied.

Donald and Goofy appeared beside them, still fighting but looking worried all at the same time.

Suddenly all of the Nobodies halted their advance. Donald and Goofy stared at them suspiciously, and Midori held out Twilight threateningly. Riku remained kneeling down next to his unconscious friend.

A loud scream was suddenly heard, causing Riku's hair to stand on end. All of the Nobodies vanished and as they did Sora's eyes flew open again and he shot up, ignoring the pain.

Sora's cerulean eyes looked around with panic and he yelled, "Kairi?" He struggled to push himself to his feet, but Riku quickly grabbed a hold of him.

"Kairi," Sora repeated again, staring at Riku with an almost helpless look before passing out again.

**VVVVVVVVVVVVV**

_**Author's Note**_

So everyone's together again, but what happened to Kairi and Namine? You'll find out at the same place, at the same time on the bat channel! No seriously, what did you think?

Speaking of Bat Channel I went to the midnight showing of The Dark Knight and I gotta say, people are not exaggeration Heath Ledger's acting. He did an amazing job! Like, over the top good! The movie itself was amazing and I've never been a huge batman fan.

My recommendation: GO SEE IT 10 TIMES OVER!

Anyways…

Thank you to everyone who reviewed! Pizza sized cookies for all! I know I replied to some of the reviews by PM but I'll still do it here too!

DAN88 – Thanks for catching the huge typo! I went back and fixed it. Or maybe it was done of purpose? Haha!

RockCityRoadStar – Rambling works! Kids are annoying. Holly is incredibly annoying, more so then you could EVER be. Yes, buy more movies! It's like an addiction to me. Some people do weed, others smoke, others drink a lot and I blow my money of DVDs XD ergo my lack of money. No, I'm not making fun of you, but that word amuses me!

Iaveina – Hahaha maybe the ghosts will be nice. Yes, Kairi was jealous. Crazy redhead, tricks are for kids…wait…lol seriously I did not mean to write that but I think I'll leave it there. I meant to write crazy redhead, Sora's so crazy for you it's almost pathetic. And yes, Santa is going to give Riku a raking! :D

J.A. Umberger – I wanted to add Axel to this story, but there was no part I could really work him in without going on a tangent from my main plot (even though I've already done that about a million times). No need to be sorry, I love Axel! But he won't be appearing in _this_ story, but…well…you'll see…

The Key of Hope – To be honest, the reason I'm not taking three or four chapters for each world is because I think I would get too bored of the story too easily and stop updating it. Besides, they don't have time to goof around anymore.

Thank you all for reviewing! And anyone who has questions, comments, concerns or anything, don't hesitate to say anything!

Remember, at least 3 is the lucky number but 5 or more reviews makes me SUPER happy. (I would have updated faster this time, but I had no internet over the weekend).

_**Krystal Lily Potter**_


	22. Darkness Rising

Shadows of a Dream

**Shadows of a Dream**

_**Chapter Twenty-One – Darkness Rising**_

King Mickey Mouse was a fighter. He was known as a strong, brave leader and was not to be tried, despite his small size. The king was friendly and easy going, but he still did his job with an unsurpassed seriousness. He always made time for his friends and family, and he always tried to look on the positive side of things.

However, King Mickey Mouse had never felt more broken in his life than he did at the moment. He had failed to protect the castle, and had to curse himself for it. If only he hadn't jumped into action the second he found out about the Heartless, if only he had waited a little more before he knew what he was truly dealing with.

Maybe, if he had stayed home like most kings would instead of jumping to other worlds, just maybe, he could have stopped the Nobodies. Still, he had a Keyblade before he was the King.

He sat at his desk, a defeated look on his face. Queen Minnie Mouse stood next to him, patting his back soothingly as she said, "There, there. You did all you could."

"No," Mickey said while shaking his head. "If I had I would be like Sora and Kairi. They gave everything they could."

Minnie stared sadly at her husband before she said, "Their conditions are improving. I wouldn't be surprised if they were both awake before the day's over."

"That's good."

There was an uncomfortable pause before the king finally asked the question that was on the tip of his tongue for a while, "How are Daisy, Donald and Goofy?"

Minnie's eyes left him and went to the floor, masking the sadness in them as she said, "They're all upset over the abduction of Huey, Dewey, Louie and Max."

Mickey nodded, understanding that it must be difficult for them.

"Why?" he asked out of the blue. "Why did they attack the castle? I doubt it was just to get the four children here. Why would they do it?"

"There was something else," Minnie said hesitantly.

"What? What else happened?"

"The Cornerstone," Minnie said vaguely.

Mickey felt his heart stop as panic flooded through him. The Cornerstone of Light? What could the Nobodies possible want with that?

**VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV**

Sora groaned and slowly opened his eyes, blinking at the bright light that assaulted his mind. Inside his head he could hear Roxas curse from pain but he ignored his Nobody for now.

Sora looked around, wincing as he moved his heavy, stiff limbs. The pain in his shoulder wasn't as bad as when it had been impaled, but it still felt terrible.

His eyes closed for a second before snapping open and looked around wildly, "Kairi?"

"Easy Sora."

Sora jumped at the sound, wincing from pain as he jolted his arm. He turned slightly and found himself staring at Riku.

"She's right there," Riku said, pointing to Sora's right. Sora looked over and saw Kairi sleeping on the bed beside him.

"What happened?" Sora asked, turning to look at Riku.

"They took the children, like they always do," Riku replied with a sad sigh. He watched Sora's expression fall as the blue-eyed boy looked down at his bed sheets, his spiky hair hiding his eyes. "Kairi was hurt pretty badly when she tried to stop them. That was the scream we heard."

Worry passed over Riku as Sora suddenly slumped back down into a laying position. The helpless look on the normally cheerful boy almost scared him.

"There's nothing we can do anymore," Sora said sadly.

"What?"

"They're always ahead of us," Sora continued as he rolled over to look at Kairi. "How much longer can we keep fighting before one of us dies? We're losing this fight Riku, and we're losing badly."

Riku didn't know what to say, he wasn't used to trying to cheer his friend up.

"You can't think like that."

Both boys turned and saw Midori standing a few feet away, looking slightly uncomfortable as she spoke, "If you give up Sora, we're screwed."

"Why? Why does everything depend on me?" Sora snapped bitterly. Riku found it odd that Sora didn't even question who she was. Come to think of it, Sora didn't even jump into 'tearful reunion mode' like he had the last time they had all been reunited.

"You're the Keyblade Master," Midori explained. "You're the one destined to open the Door to Light."

Sora looked down and said, "Why me then? I mean, the only reason I became the Master is because Riku gave into the darkness. I know you know things Midori, things that most people don't."

Midori gave Riku a confused look, wondering if the silver-haired boy had told Sora her name. Riku, understanding the silent message shook his head, not having a clue how Sora knew who she was.

"I only know what I sense," she said. "And I know it's _your_ destined for all these things. Not Riku, not Kairi, not me…you."

Sora looked at her for a moment with a small glare and then turned around to look at Kairi.

"He's not going to listen to you," a dry tone said. Riku and Midori both jumped as Roxas appeared, looking torn between being bored and annoyed.

Roxas walked around and then, much to both the other's surprise, whacked Sora across the head.

"Ow! What was that for?!" Sora snapped at his Nobody.

"For being a cranky idiot," Roxas said before vanishing.

Sora muttered under his breath, something about annoying Nobodies but he soon stopped. His eyes lost the icy glare they had to them and he looked at Riku and said, "I'm sorry, I just...I'm glad you're alright."

Riku smiled at his friend and thumped his back lightly while saying, "It's cool."

Sora was about to say something else when a groan to his right caught his attention. His head shot around and before Riku could stop him he flew out of the bed and was beside Kairi in an instant, ignoring the burning pain from his body.

She opened her eyes, staring at Sora as if she didn't recognize him for a moment before her eyes widened and she shot up. A yelp of pain escaped her lips and she fell back, but Sora managed to catch her, knowing she wanted to be sitting up.

Riku made his way around Sora's empty bed, dragging a reluctant Midori with him. Kairi turned and stared at him with confusion for a moment before a large smile appeared on her face and she cried out, "Riku! Is it really you?"

He chuckled and nodded.

"Are you alright Kairi?" Sora asked, worry evident in his voice. "I heard you scream and then I just…passed out again."

Kairi's grin vanished and she said, "I-they showed up again, they came from the room down the stairs in the throne room. All five of them where there and they seemed happy about something. They grabbed three little ducks that looked like Donald and a boy that looked like Goofy and I tried to stop them but I felt something slash my back and that was when I screamed."

Riku nodded and said, "Donald's nephews Huey, Dewey and Louie as well as Goofy's son Max."

Sora felt a billion questions shoot through his head at the mention of Max, but decided not to voice them at the moment. He moved back a bit so that he could see Kairi's back and pushed her shirt up a little bit, not embarrassed in the least. He touched the wound that had been sealed with magic, but the scar was still there and it was a big scar.

"Who are you?"

Sora followed her gaze as she stared at Midori curiously. Sora didn't know much about her, only that her name was Midori, she owned the Twilight Keyblade and she could sense things. He remembered this from his dream.

"I'm Midori, Princess," she said politely.

"Oh, there's no need for the Princess part, just Kairi works," the redhead replied, obviously embarrassed.

A grin struggled to appear on Midori's face but she managed to keep it hidden.

Riku rolled his eyes at her and said, "We found her in Agraba. She's been traveling trying to stop the Half-Hearts. Actually thanks to her we know a lot about them."

Midori flushed and shrugged slightly.

"And once you get to know her this shy demeanor vanishes. I think I've gotten about ten death threats a day," Riku added.

Midori's eyes flashed and she snapped, "That's because you're an egotistical idiot!"

Grinning at his friends he said, "That's the Midori I know."

"Oh good, you're awake."

Everyone turned and saw Minnie enter the room. She looked at them all and said, "Sora, Kairi, do you feel well enough to come with me for a moment?"

Both nodded and Sora jumped up, wincing a little bit as he helped Kairi up. She leaned on him, and they started moving, but both ended up almost stumbling to the floor. Riku quickly grabbed Sora, and Midori grabbed Kairi, shooting one-another amused looks.

"Come on buddy," Riku said with a laugh as he steadied Sora. "Midori can help Kairi along."

The brown-eyed girl glared at Riku and snapped, "You think I'm not strong enough to help Sora?"

"He is kind of heavy…"

"Hey!" Sora snapped. "I'm not fat!"

Midori couldn't help but smile as Riku and Kairi laughed happily at their friend. She felt a little out of place, but already she liked these two new people like Riku assured her that she would.

"No, actually you're really skinny," Riku said. "But very heavy for a skinny person. I think Kairi has more meat on her bones then you do."

"Of course she does," Sora replied with a snicker, glancing at Kairi who blushed and glared at the same time.

The group slowly made their way down the wrecked halls, and Sora couldn't help but wince as he stared at the damage. A sense of failure passed through him, and even though Roxas whispered that it wasn't his fault, Sora could feel the guilt coming from his Nobody as well.

Queen Minnie led the way to the destroyed throne room, causing Kairi to shrink back in shame. It was obvious in her mind that she was a failure as a Keybearer because she could never seem to handle simple tasks on her own. She always seemed to need Sora with her to be successful. Her eyes filled with tears of frustration before she looked up and saw Midori staring at her with a sympathetic look.

"Sora, Kairi, it's good to see that you're both alright," Mickey said as he approached them, having come from the Hall of the Cornerstone.

Sora nodded and was about to say something when two yells distracted him. Suddenly he felt Riku let go of him as Donald and Goofy hugged him tightly. Both, he could tell, were visibly upset at losing their family members, but at the same time they were glad to see Sora (alive) again.

After the quick reunion Mickey marched them all down into the room below and what Sora saw made him feel like his heart had falling to his feet.

The Cornerstone, once filled with a brilliant white light was now empty except for a tiny orb of light in the middle of it.

"We don't know what happened to it," Minnie said slowly. "But this happened when the Nobodies were here."

Sora slowly made his way across the room and placed his hand on the smooth, cold glass. The frigid feeling could even be felt through his glove, but he ignored that, his attention focused on the small ball of light.

Roxas appeared next to him and said, "What do you think Sora?"

He got no answer.

"Sora?" Roxas said while waving his hand in front of his other's face. "Earth to my other half! The universe is calling, they want their idiot back."

Sora simply kept staring at the orb.

"Sora?" Kairi called out. Roxas turned and saw her and Naminé side-by-side, staring at them with worry.

"Sora, snap out of it buddy," Riku called out.

Suddenly the small orb's light seemed to explode. The light was so intense that all of them (including Roxas and Naminé) needed to shield their eyes.

The light faded and it was Donald and Goofy who looked up first, both of them crying out in horror.

"Sora?" Donald cried out. "Sora where are you?"

"Where did he go?" Goofy asked while looking around.

Everyone else looked up to find a stunned Roxas staring at the empty space to his left where Sora had stood a moment before.

**VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV**

"Where am I?"

Sora stood in the middle of a run-down palace, eyeing the place oddly. It was made of marble and stone and he had the strongest impression that he had seen this place before.

"You have seen this place Sora," a soft, warm tone echoed around him.

He quickly turned around and saw a woman with the palest features he had ever seen standing in front of him. Staring at her for a moment he said, "You were the one I saw in my dream!"

"Yes, as did Roxas and your friend Riku," she said with a smile. "I, Sora Hikari, am a Metaphor for Destiny."

"A Metaphor for Destiny?" Sora asked.

"Yes, Destiny does not take a real shape, so I am simply representing it," she replied. "You may call me Destiny for simplicity, however."

"Where am I? How did I get here?"

"You got here because the light brought you here. Light is fading, and it needed to give its Master a helping hand. As for where you are, you are in a memory."

"This is the same place as in my dream too," Sora said after a moment.

She nodded and said, "While you have seen this place you do not know it, but it is what's left of the great world of Twilight's Destiny."

"Twilight's Destiny?" Sora whispered.

"Yes, the world of perfect balance. Those who lived here could wield darkness and light while still remaining in the light for long periods of time. Unfortunately, that was also their undoing. One of their own was tricked into letting the evil darkness in and this place was destroyed."

"Wasn't it restored when the rest of the worlds were?" he asked.

"No," Destiny said while shaking her head. "It was decided that this particular place, the palace, should be hidden because of the power that lies here. The power of perfect darkness and light mixing as one is never surpassed young one and this is what all seek."

"Unlimited power."

"Not unlimited child, ultimate power," she corrected.

"This is where they're trying to get to, isn't it?" Sora asked suddenly. "The Half-Hearts? Those Nobodies are trying to get this power."

"They are not as they seem," Destiny said. "They do not call themselves Half-Hearts to make them seem more human, like they claim. They have a secret weapon at their disposal that, if over-looked, could lead to the destruction of good."

Sora stared at her and said, "They don't—they're not?" His unintelligible question was quickly halted as his eyes widened in realization and he asked, "They named themselves literally, didn't they? They have half of their hearts still…they're only half Nobodies."

Destiny smiled and said, "You know the goal and you know their secret. That is all I can tell you for now, you are destined to find out the rest on your own young one."

"But, this barely helps me!" Sora cried out. "I can't keep letting everyone down."

"You won't young one," Destiny said soothingly as she placed a pale hand on the crown of his head. "The dark one, Maleficent, she holds much valuable information. Find her and the story will begin to place itself."

Sora nodded and winced as the world around him started glowing a brilliant light. He covered his eyes with his hands and heard one last sentence, "Midori knows much too. Trust her and you will find the answers you seek. Good luck, Master of the Keyblade."

This his world went white before turning black.

**VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV**

**Author's Note**

Yeah, Kairi screamed last time cause she got her ass kicked.

Sooooo the Nobodies that I named the Half-Hearts aren't really Nobodies at all. Try to wrap your mind around that one!!

Sorry I didn't really go into depth about Donald and Goofy's feelings over what happened but…well I'll be honest I just didn't want to write it.

And for anyone who's wondering I decided to make Max young like he was in Goof Troop, not a teenager like most stories do.

Thank you for all the reviews! I swear if I could literally send you all something I'd say screw cookies, I'd send you an entire cake/pie (for whichever one you prefer). But I'm broke and what money I'm making over the summer is going towards all the crap I'm gonna end up buying when I go to Disney World.

So let's get to the reviews!

Iaveina – lol that was the second appearance of Riku's cellphone if you look back. He had it in school too. Although I do see the humor in it! LMAO I love Casper.

The Key of Hope – Well as you saw Kairi screamed because she got sliced like a pizza in the back. Making them kidnap her would be to typical and would conflict with…well you'll see.

Holly Skyla Hart – I shall call you whatever I want. Why? Because I'm older and I win! Yes I saw that thunderstorm and yes he was playing baseball, which made me laugh to no end. If you EVER try hacking into my laptop I'll shave your head bald! Thank you for reviewing though! P Later Holl-Ball

RockCityRoadStar – lol you amuse me! Which is a good thing! Holy crap, 15 pages? I quit! I like making mine anywhere from 6 to 9 pages and a short one for me is like 5 pages. You're crazy. You have school tomorrow? Wow, that sounds odd because it's summer vacation for me. Oh yeah, your Flaming Sea urchin army has nothing my invisible super powered squirrels! My old English teacher was positive that squirrels were going to rule the world one day…yeah forget Shakespeare, that's what we talked about in grade 10! No wonder I had a 98 in that class…

Kanie – Thank you! And I hope this was a fast enough update for you and if not…well not much I can really say to that because I can't go any faster! )

DAN88 – Well Kairi got her butt kicked by the Half-Hearts and now you know that one, they're not really Nobodies, and two, they want some BAMF super power! Glad you like the story!

So thanks to all of you and please review to let me know what you like or dislike about this chapter. Or I'm good with random rantings that have nothing to do with this (Holly's good for that usually). P

Catch ya all later, eh?

_**Krystal Lily Potter**_


	23. More Questions

**Shadows of a Dream**

_**Chapter Twenty-Two – More Questions**_

Riku watched the scene with alarmed green eyes, but he kept his cool and didn't show his worry anywhere else on his exterior. So what if his eyes betrayed his true emotions? You could barely see them behind his silver bangs anyway.

Donald and Goofy were visibly panicking. Donald just lost his three nephews, Goofy his son, and now their friend suddenly vanished as well? That was just too much for both the calm, relaxed Goofy and the temperamental Donald.

King Mickey was studying the Cornerstone, walking around it and inspecting each centimeter of it, trying to make some sense of what had happened, but so far his inspection proved useless.

Queen Minnie stood at the side of Kairi, who had slumped to her knees and was visibly upset by Sora's sudden disappearance, patting the young woman's shoulder and trying to comfort her. Midori knelt on Kairi's other side with her hand calmly on her shoulder. Every once and awhile, however, her eyes would meet Riku's and panic would consume them. She had no clue what to do with the crying girl.

Finally Riku's vision turned to the last two in the room, although they weren't really there at all, were they? They were Nobodies, just the living (or rather ghostly) versions of Kairi and Sora that didn't really exist. Riku studied the two and couldn't help but feel that, well his observation was true about most Nobodies, that there was something different about these two. He had seen Roxas smack Sora up-side the head earlier and just a few minutes ago, when Kairi had slumped to the ground, he had seen Naminé grab her and try to hold her weight before she too fell. If they didn't exist how could they physically interact with someone?

The two Nobodies stood dangerously close to the Cornerstone, whispering. Naminé seemed confused about what was happening, and slightly scared (could she actually feel now? Riku wasn't sure, he had never asked). Roxas' reaction, however, confused Riku to no end.

He didn't seem worried about the sudden disappearance of his Other, in fact he seemed rather calm. After Mickey had warded everyone else off of touching the Cornerstone (seeing how Sora had touched it and vanished), Roxas had simply shrugged off the order and put his hand on it anyway. Roxas didn't vanish, but there was something unsettling about to image to Riku. It almost looked like Roxas became more opaque after he touched the dimly shining sphere. At first Riku assumed this was because of the light passing through the ghostly boy, but that was soon thrown out of his head when Naminé went to stand beside Roxas. She was visibly more translucent than her male counterpart was.

Roxas was now staring into the small orb of light with the same expression Sora had. Naminé shifted nervously and whispered something that Riku couldn't hear to the blond haired boy, who shook his head quickly and suddenly took a step back.

The light seemed to explode again and Riku had to cover his eyes from the intensity of it again. He heard Naminé give a small shriek of surprise and he heard Roxas grunt as if something heavy had fallen on him before the light retreated back into the stone.

Kairi let out an odd sound, and Riku looked up just in time to see her lunge across the room.

"Sora!" she cried out as she came into contact to the newcomer to the room. Her arms wrapped around his middle tightly and she hid her face in his neck.

Sora seemed startled by this but grinned and hugged her back tightly.

Riku couldn't help but smile at his two friends before clearing his throat and saying, "As adorable (Midori giggled at his wording) as this is, I think you need to let him breathe Kairi, or at least let him go long enough to explain what the hell happened."

Both blushed at his words and Kairi let go of Sora quickly. Sora, however, kept his arm around her shoulder and kept her close to him, causing her to blush redder than before.

"Where were you?" Donald suddenly exploded. "What do you think you were doing, just vanishing like that? Why I outta—"

Goofy nudged Donald lightly before asking, "Are you ok Sora? You had us worried."

"Yeah," he said. "I'm fine." Suddenly, he seemed aware of Roxas, who was still staring at his Other rather intently. Sora looked at him and tilted his head curiously before nodding at Roxas.

Roxas raised an eyebrow and said, "Wow, that's…so that's what they're after?"

This startled everyone, except for Kairi who was used to these rather one-sided conversations. She was used to the fact that Roxas knew everything Sora knew, they were the same person, plus it was the same between her and Naminé.

Midori's eyes traveled from Roxas to Sora and back again before asking, "Care to share that with the rest of us?"

Sora suddenly seemed to get a cold look to him as he said, "We need to take a trip."

"Where?" Goofy asked.

"To the World That Never Was," Sora replied in a dark voice. "We need to pay Maleficent a visit."

**VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV**

The trip to Twilight Town was a silent one, despite having a larger number of people aboard the gummi ship than normal. Mickey sat at the controls, steering the ship with Donald and Goofy on either side of him. Needless to say Mickey's flying was much better than last time.

Riku and Midori sat on couches in another room, both appearing rather bored but not talking. They had run out of crazy and wild theories as to what happened to Sora a while ago, and the talk of what they thought was going to happen with Maleficent had quickly grown stale.

Roxas and Naminé were still visible, not having gone back into their Others yet. The two were sitting on the couch across from Midori and Riku, talking quietly. Riku had to raise his eyebrow when he saw the couch actually squish down when they sat on it. It was like they were really there, but if he tried to touch then his hand would go right through (he should know, he had watched Midori try a little earlier, much to Roxas' annoyance).

Sora, at first, had just sat on one of the rather uncomfortable chairs and started out the porthole into space, but a persistent Kairi quickly dragged him somewhere else a little while ago.

Flipping her green hair out of her eyes Midori turned from Riku to the two Nobodies and asked, "So…umm…Roxas, Naminé…?"

"Yes?" Naminé asked with an almost amused tone at the older girl's hesitance.

"Do all Nobodies end up like you? I mean, able to come out of their Others and all?"

"No, we were odd cases," Roxas explained.

"Actually, I think we're the only cases like this," Naminé said with a shrug.

"Oh, that's good. And can you two actually, you know, feel?"

The two blonds shared a look before Naminé answered, "Yes, because technically we're connected to Sora and Kairi. We may be visible, but their hearts are still connected to us so we can feel."

"It'd odd though, feeling your own emotions and then feeling another completely different set of emotions," Roxas added. "The same with thoughts. When I'm not actually inside of Sora I can still feel what he feels and hear what he's thinking with little effort. It's not always there, but if I want to it's no problem to do. If I try a little harder, it takes more concentration, I can see what he saw and hear what he said. If I were inside of Sora everything like that is instantaneous, like watching a rather interesting movie."

"It's the same with Kairi and myself," Naminé agreed.

"So, what's Sora feeling now?"

Roxas' cerulean eyes seemed to stare off into space for a split second before a blush appeared on his face and he said, "He's feeling fine."

Naminé raised her eyebrow before she too got the same look on her face. A lighter blush appeared on her cheeks as she giggled.

"What?" Riku asked.

"I believe if you go to the cargo hold, you will most likely stumble across them making out," Roxas said with an amused tone.

Midori couldn't help but laugh at their words before teasing, "So, since you're them I bet you want to do the same?"

Naminé looked rather flustered at her words but Roxas grinned with nothing short of an impish grin, causing Naminé to smack him a cross the head.

Riku completely ignored that part of the conversation and said, "Sora finally got the guts to tell Kairi how he feels?"

The two Nobodies shared a look before Naminé said, "Not exactly."

"But you just said—"

"That they're probably lip-locking, yeah," Roxas said with a laugh.

"He never actually said anything to her though," Naminé said, scowling slightly as she nudged Roxas. "And some people don't even bother telling him to get a move-on!"

"Last time I checked Kairi never said anything either," Roxas pointed out.

"Maybe," Midori said. "But he's the guy…"

Riku, not wanting to hear this gossip session that had occurred, went to investigate. He knew he shouldn't spy on his friends, but damn it, he was curious! Finally, after he was out of earshot of the arguing trio he sighed in relief.

Quietly he quickly moved to the cargo hold and peaked in. Silently he looked around until he came across his two friends, just as Naminé and Roxas said they'd be. Kairi was leaning against the wall and Sora was up against her. Riku was about to laugh and call out to them to get a room but he stopped himself at what he saw. There were tears on Kairi's cheeks, and he could still see some more fresh tears leaking from her closed eyes.

Slowly he walked backwards and quietly closed the door before leaning against it. He tried to think of what Kairi could be crying over, especially when they were kissing, but he couldn't think of anything.

Suddenly, Riku's sharp ears heard voices come from the storage room, as well as footsteps. He panicked slightly but didn't leave. The door opened and his friend stopped, staring at him blankly.

Riku shrugged at them but said nothing. They knew that he had seen them though; it was just the look in his eyes.

After all, the three of them didn't need words. They all understood one another even in silence.

**VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV**

The trip through the dead Twilight Town was quick. Mickey, Donald, Goofy, Riku and Midori were stunned at the amount of damage, but the other four in the group refused to stop and look at it. They got to the mansion and into fake Twilight Town quickly enough.

Now, staring up at the darkened sky with an odd expression, Roxas stared at the Castle That Never Was. Naminé squeezed his hand tightly, staring with no emotions. She had been held captive there for months on end (not including when she had been moved to Castle Oblivion and then the mansion in Twilight Town) and Roxas had lived there in his dark days.

Sora suddenly came up behind him and said, "I need you to go back for a little bit, alright Roxas?"

Roxas stared at Sora for a moment as he caught his Other's thoughts before nodding and vanishing back into him. Naminé stared at Sora curiously before shrugging and disappearing into Kairi.

Sora glared up at the castle and both the Ultima Weapon and Oblivion appeared in his hands. With a quick motion he re-created the bridge up the castle that he had a year ago and started running without saying a word to anyone.

The others followed him, but it was Goofy's words that seemed to stick in everyone's mind.

"Gawrsh, since when can Sora use two Keyblades without being in a Drive Form?"

Once they all got into the castle all weapons were pulled out. The place was absolutely swarming with Heartless! This was worse than the last time they had been there.

For Midori, this was the first time she had seen the castle and, if she had the time to actually study it without slashing through waves of Heartless, than she would have found it amazing to look at. A little too white, but amazing all the same.

Sora trudged on ahead of everyone else, Roxas giving him directions everyone once and a while.

'_Stop!'_

Sora did as his Nobody commanded and skidded to a stop. He looked around with confusion before turning to his left (and beating a couple Heartless away) and seeing a door. His stare was an odd one, but it didn't belong to him. Roxas' confusion appeared on Sora's face because this door was not here the last time Roxas was in this Castle.

"In there?" Sora asked aloud.

'_In there,'_ Roxas agreed and slowly he walked forward towards the door.

The door flew open on it's own accord as Sora neared it. He could hear his friends catching up to him, panting tiredly, but he paid them no attention. Instead his glare was focused on a platform above him in the new room where Maleficent stood, glaring back at him.

**VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV**

**Author's Note**

…I don't actually have much to say today at all and I don't really have much to say about this chapter (shrugs). So I'll get to the point!

Thank you to all the people who reviewed! D You guys are the best!

The Key of Hope – Actually you should tell me what the questions are! Wanna know why? Because I am very forgetful and what you want to know might be something I meant to put in but forgot. Also the half hearts are doing what they do every night: planning to take over the world!

ffkingdom – lol thank you

Iaveina – ha yeah I guess that's true. Seeing a cellphone in the Beast's Castle in the game would have made me think 'wtf?' Destiny isn't exactly a person. She's in human form but she's more of a spirit or something like that. Why? Because like she said destiny can't take a real form, she's just the metaphor for it.

DAN88 – LMAO! I nearly died when I read that! Although that music does freak me out…that's ok though! Sora's back in reality where he talks to a giant dog that stands on two legs, a duck with anger issues, a mouse that's a king and kicks ass with a Keyblade, his friends and two people who doesn't really exist compared to being in a memory talking to a spirit! …now tell me which one's weirder! D

Kanie – Your welcome! But not all my updates will be that fast! Most of the time it won't be over a week between updates! Keep that in mind!

RockCityRoadStar – Being easily amused is great!! I hope if they come out with a KHIII it's set like a year later or something so that Kairi could have practice with her Keyblade and maybe actually do something! Then again, in the cut scene where it shows both her and Riku fighting he's doing about as good as she is…I didn't say invisible super powered monkeys…I said squirrels! I even went back and checked! Wow you're just cruel! Lol yes, you can't be too generic these days!

Again, thank you to everyone! Hope you liked this chapter and review to tell me what you think!

_**Krystal Lily Potter**_


	24. The Other Enemies

**Shadows of a Dream**

_**Chapter Twenty-Three – The Other Enemies**_

"So the Keybearer has decided to pay me a visit has he?" Maleficent's voice echoed around the room. "How lovely."

"Woah, woah, we've been trying to find a way to do this kid in and he just shows up? What are the odds of that?"

"Hades," Sora snapped. "I thought you were smarter than involving yourself with her again."

The God of the Underworld stared down at Sora and shrugged, "Thought we'd take another dance, concur the universe, then go home."

Sora eyed the people around Maleficent. It seemed that, over the past year, she had gathered followers again. Along with Hades stood several other creatures and people Sora's didn't know. Later on Mickey explained that their names were Cruella de Vil, Shere Khan, Yzma, Gantu, Ratcliffe and a wimpy lion-prince named Prince John. Besides all of these people, Pete was also present. He seemed to be a little withdrawn from the group though.

"How about I give you a fair warning this time?" Sora snapped. "Stop whatever it is that you're planning and I won't kill you."

"You?" Yzma laughed hysterically. "How are you planning on doing that? Making a potion that will turn us into frogs and then while we're jumping around you'll lure all the bugs to us and we'll eat them all and then you'll never have to worry about mosquito bites again? It's brilliant! Brilliant I tell you! Brilliant!" Everyone gave her odd looks but no one said a word.

Maleficent cleared her throat and said nothing more, but with a wave of her staff the room filled up with Heartless again. The group backed into a circle, weapons at the ready should these Heartless attack them.

Sora continued glaring at the dark creatures above them. As he released an almost animal-like growl, Ultima and Oblivion started glowing. He slammed his Keyblades into the ground, causing the others to stumble and fall. The power raced through the ground, slamming into and destroying all of the Heartless.

The room echoed with silence as everybody stared at Sora, whose current glare should have been able to kill on the spot.

"Look Malificfent," Sora spat. "I'll let you and your little followers there live for now, but only if you tell me what I want to know."

She laughed and said, "Why would I divulge anything I know to you boy?"

Riku tried to grab Sora as his friend shot forward, but the shorter boy was too fast for him. With a great leap, Sora seemed to defy gravity as he flew through the air and landed on the ledge right in front of the witch that he had been talking to, his Keyblade only a centimeter away from her throat. "What was that?"

"How did he just—" Midori trailed off, looking at Riku. "Could he always do that Silver?"

"No," Riku said and glanced over at Kairi, who seemed equally stunned.

"You're outnumbered you stupid child," Maleficent said, a cautious tone to her voice.

Sora snarled and everyone covered their eyes as what could only be described as a sphere of light appeared around Sora and the villains, separating them from everyone else.

"So," Sora said slowly. "Since we're in my element right now, quiet literally, I think you should listen to me."

**VVVVVVVVVVVVVV**

Roxas stood on Sora's stained-glass platform that was glowing under his feet. Confusion was the most apparent feature on his face as he looked around for the source of this sudden light and power that Sora possessed.

His cerulean eyes carefully studied the world around him and stopped as stain-glass stairs began to appear in front of him. Hesitantly, Roxas started walking up the stairs, only to switch into a jog and then a run the farther he went up. He wasn't sure where he was going, but his instincts told him to keep climbing. Finally, the shape of another platform appeared above him. Roxas skidded onto it, planting lightly before it burst into light.

He covered his eyes and winced until the light stopped. Uncovering his face he looked around and found that he wasn't on a platform anymore, but in a room.

"Where am I?" he wondered aloud.

"You are still inside of Sora, don't worry," a calm voice echoed.

"Who are you?"

"One of the ones that came before you," the voice said cryptically.

"Why am I here?"

"To understand, Roxas. You and Sora have a power deep inside of you that was locked away years ago to protect you both. Slowly it's starting to be released."

A door appeared behind Roxas, causing him to turn around to face it. He stared at it for a moment before noticing that there was a brilliant white light seeping out from all the edges and the door seemed to be building.

"You're power is unlocking," the voice said. "Be ready for this Roxas, because nothing will be the same once this door opens."

"What is it? Just a metaphor for our power?"

"No Roxas, this is the Door to Light."

**VVVVVVVVVVVVVV**

Sora paced back and forth in front of the villains, not looking at them. Both of his Keyblades were out, sparks of light appearing off of them every couple seconds or so.

Slowly he turned to face them and said, "I'll give you an option. Hades, I know I can't kill you and you are actually needed to sort out the Underworld, so go away and never try to associate with this group again or I will permanently lock you in there and you know I can."

Hades stared at him oddly before saying, "You drive a hard bargain but I'll take it."

Sora nodded and moved his Keyblade, allowing a spot in the bubble of light to vanish so Hades could leave. Valuing his ability to leave the Underworld, Hades quickly evacuated the area.

Turning to face the other villains that he didn't know Sora said, "None of you have done any wrong yet so I have no reason to kill you. That means I'll let you all go, but I swear, if you try to associate yourself with Maleficent again you're as good as gone."

Soon only Maleficent and Pete were trapped by Sora's fury of light. She didn't appear worried, but Pete seemed shifty.

"I know that you know where the Half-Hearts are trying to get to. More specifically, I know that they're trying to get to Twilight's Destiny and you know where the gateway to it is. Spill."

"Why would I help you boy?"

"Because I'm about a minute away from killing you without a regret. I'm so sick of failing all these worlds, and if I can get some answers from you I'll be damned if you think you can keep them from me," Sora hissed angrily.

"I can tell you," Pete said suddenly.

"Hush Pete," Maleficent growled.

Sora spun his Keyblade around and slammed it into Maleficent, causing her to fly back and hit the edge of the sphere before collapsing to the ground, gasping in pain. Ignoring her, turning to face Pete he said, "What?"

"I-I just…those-those Half-Hearts, they took him."

Now confusion was he primary expression on Sora's face as he asked, "Who?"

"My son, PJ. He's friends with the Goof's son and was taken when he was trying to get to Disney Castle. I want him back and…"

"Ahh I get it. You want your son back so you might as well help the people with the best chance of actually getting him back. Smartest plan you've ever had Pete, and that's saying something."

"Do you want to know where they're going or not?"

"You saw what I just did to the old witch there," Sora muttered, motioning to the still immobile Maleficent. "Talk."

Seeming even more nervous than before Pete said, "They're trying to find some great power source that locked in a mostly destroyed world called Twilight's Destiny. With that they could turn themselves whole again and reek the revenge they want against those who stood in their way. They're going to use the hearts of children to open the gate to the world and the souls of the adults to release the power…or maybe it's the other way around…I dunno."

Sora went over this information quickly and nodded, already knowing most of this thanks to A Metaphor of Destiny.

"We haven't been able to find exactly where they're going, but we've narrowed where the gate is down to five different worlds. We haven't looked ourselves yet, what with trying to find out what happened to Kingdom Hearts and all."

"Kingdom Hearts?" Sora asked, confusion laced in his voice as he looked out the nearby window into the darkened sky. He hadn't noticed it when running into the castle, no one had, but as Pete implied, Kingdom Hearts (or what had been left of it at least) was nowhere to be seen.

"It just vanished awhile," Pete informed him. "Just after Twilight Town fell."

As intriguing as this mystery was to Sora, he needed to get the information he came for. Slowly turning towards Pete he asked, "Which worlds are they?"

"I don't actually know the names of the worlds but they're in here," Pete brought a folder out of his pocket and handed it to Sora. "I was supposed to deliver it to Hades without being seen, but he showed up here and then you did."

Sora opened the paper and glanced at its contents. Looking back up and nodding he said, "I don't feel like becoming a killer today. Take her away from here and make sure that she stays out of my way for now on." Sora wasn't stupid, he knew for a fact that Maleficent probably wanted this power for herself, so he knew she would be following him to find it and that was why he wasn't bothered with letting the evil witch die yet. Perhaps she could be useful in the way of a distraction for the Half-Hearts.

The bubble of light seemed to burst as Sora turned back to the ledge of the balcony and jumped off, landing neatly on the floor in front of Riku.

"What was that?" Riku asked, eyes wide.

"What was what?" Sora questioned, tilting his head slightly.

"That was completely out of character for you! The threatening, the anger…all of it!"

"Leave it Riku," Midori hissed at him quickly.

"Did you find out what's going on?" Mickey asked Sora.

Nodding the brunet replied, "Let's get back to the gummi ship and I'll explain."

"What about her?" Donald asked darkly, staring up at Maleficent and Pete.

"We'll take care of her later," Sora said after a moment. "We need to leave."

Kairi moved over to him and grabbed his hand tightly, rubbing her thumb over it in a soothing manner as they made their way calmly out of the castle and back towards Twilight Town.

**VVVVVVVVVVVVVV**

Roxas stared at the Door to Light again, still trying to contemplate how this was appearing in Sora's mind of all places. He blinked quickly as the door seemed to fade until it appeared only as a stone carving in the walls that were Sora's mind.

A clicking sound behind him caused him to turn around and he saw a figure in armor behind him. Tilting his head he asked, "Are you the one who was talking to me?"

"Yes," the figure replied.

"What happened then?"

"Your powers have calmed down and until they are released they will fade when not being used. Don't worry, this is normal. Well, the Door to Light appearing in someone's mind isn't normal. You see unlike the Door to Darkness, the Door to Light does not have a permanent or physical place in the universe. It's located in the heart of the person destined for it and when they need it the door will open up for them physically. Confusing, eh?"

"Oh," Roxas said. "Are you going to tell me who you are?"

An almost amused sound came from the knight as he slowly reached up and took off his helmet, causing Roxas to gasp.

"Y-y-you're me!" Roxas cried out, staring at an identical version of himself. Now that he thought about it, even their voices were the same. The only difference was their clothing and even then the knight's armor resembled Roxas' clothes.

The knight shook his head and said, "No, I'm not. Maybe someday it will be explained to you who I really am, but not now and I highly doubt that you'll find out in the near future. There are too many more relevant things happening right now."

"You're not me, but you look exactly like me? We even have the same voice!" Roxas said.

Seemingly amused the knight said, "Maybe we will communicate again, I don't know. Maybe it will be Terra or Aqua to contact you, I cannot tell. Good luck Roxas and Sora."

"Wait!" Roxas yelled as the figure started to vanish. "Who are Terra and Aqua? What's your name?"

"Terra and Aqua were my friends at one point of time, but that's all I can tell you about them. As for me—my name is Ven." With that, the identical version of Roxas vanished and soon the Nobody found himself standing back on the normal stain-glass platform.

"What was that?" he muttered to himself as he stared off into the darkness. "Ven? Terra? Aqua?" Looking down at the floor, Roxas shook his head and said, "No, he said we would be told when the time came, and that is not now…"

**VVVVVVVVVVVVVV**

**  
Author's Note**

So there's a bit of Terra, Aqua and Ven, but I don't actually know anything about them so I sort of left them open. That, can I tell you already, is one of the lose ends that will be left open in this story (aka, no explanation of who they are). Who do you guys think they are? I am especially curious about Ven, but aren't we all?

I know Sora seems OOC, but he's just going through a mental and emotional breakdown I think. You know what they say, what goes up must come down and when it hits the ground one of three things happen: it creates a hole and keeps going, it's destroyed or it bounces back up! Yes…random I know.

Thank you, like always, to my reviewers! And thank you to anyone else who reads this story! Although most of this has been written or at least planned out in detail, I'm still up for suggestions!

Now a big thank you goes out to:

Iaveina – lol yeah you were right bout Maleficent. God her name is difficult to spell if you don't know how. Meh waking up at 8:30 isn't a big deal! Waking up for a 6 o'clock shift is terrible cause you have to get up at either 5 or 4:30! And yeah, the whole Sora and Kairi thing just kinda popped into my head because I'm like 'welllll I need to make this chapter longer sooooo…)

DAN88 – Not much suspense. More of Sora on male PMS. Don't worry, this will not be the last of Maleficent! The witch seems to live through everything…actually it seems like nearly everyone that Sora took down comes back to life :S

RockCityRoadStar – Kairi was crying because of everything that's been happening and Sora was comforting her when they happened. No, I didn't actually write that. Yes it was squirrels, not monkeys. My first idea was monkeys and my second one was squirrels. I am figuratively confused as well. You know, when I looked up KH3 rumors I found something interesting. Yes, they say that Sora isn't going to be the main character, but I know who is. Terra, Aqua and Ven. There are theories of what may come with KH3, but for now, if it is being planned, it's under really tight wraps. What everyone's calling KH3 now is actually Birth by Sleep. Or so I've heard! I hope I'm right and that he will be the main character in KH3. I know that a little Sora and Riku make appearances on Destiny Islands in Birth by Sleep…so that might be what you read about…maybe…hopefully… Wow what a long reply…

Holly Skyla Hart – You're a brat, I just hope you know that! Yes I agree that anyone named Albus Severus or Maleficent would have gotten beat up on the playground, but that really has nothing to do with anything. Hahahaha you didn't see Dark Knight yet? I saw it twiiiicceeeeeee. It was great and you should go see it!

Oberon Axelus – Thank you! Ummm…this isn't nearly as long as some other stories out there. I think that if I tried to write 50+ chapter I'd never finish because I'd get too bored too fast. There are still quite a few chapters though! Promise! Yeah I got it memorized!

Thank you to everyone and please review! I really appriciate it!

_**Krystal Lily Potter**_


	25. Story of a Half Heart

**Shadows of a Dream**

_**Chapter Twenty-Four – Story of a Half-Heart**_

One of these worlds was the answer to the riddle; one of these places held the gate to the city that was once known as Twilight's Destiny, but Sora had to wonder why.

Why, out of all the worlds out there, was it narrowed down to these five? What were so special about them over the others? He had asked King Mickey his opinion on it, but the miniature king had said he didn't know. Sora knew for a fact that the King was lying, but he respected him enough not to pester him like he had about Riku.

To Sora, this flight felt like the old days. Donald and Goofy sat on either side of him and there were actually a large amount of Heartless ships on the way to blast through.

There was a darker air hanging over them though. No one spoke of what happened to each group over the past months except for the basics: how they met Midori, how all of the princesses of heart were frozen (Aside from Kairi obviously. Apparently the Half-Hearts got Snow White after they had left Enchanted Forest) and how they believed that the Half-Hearts made their final stretch for children.

"Wow," Donald said suddenly.

"Wouldja look at that?" Goofy added.

Sora squinted and his eyes widened when he saw what they did. It came out of nowhere, but there was definitely a world in front of them. As they neared it they saw that this place had a dark look to it. There were very few visible water sources, but there were several visible ice caps.

"What is that place?"

Sora looked at the list and said, "According to this, the planet at this location is called The Forbidden World. Sounds promising."

"What?" both his friends asked, shocked at his words.

"Well first there was The End of the World and then The World that Never Was. The Forbidden World seems to go along with that, doesn't t?"

Both had to admit that he was right on that case.

"Donald, take the wheel, I'm going to tell the others," Sora said as he quickly jumped from the seat and rushed out of the room.

**VVVVVVVVVVVVV**

Kairi hummed happily to herself, twisting her finger around her hair as she read quietly. King Mickey too was reading, but it was a tomb that appeared much too big for him. Kairi had been amazed when he walked into the lounge of the ship carrying it. She had decided to go with one of the romance books she had found stashed away (Why it was on the ship in the first place was beyond her.). She was imagining Sora and herself as the happy young couple in the book with no worries or cares.

Her eyes turned from the book periodically as she observed Riku and Midori's game. It was what Midori called Ultimate Monopoly. What that meant, Kairi wasn't sure. There appeared to be very few rules, if any, and Midori was notoriously bad (at least from Kairi's point of view) of changing the rules to help her win. Riku appeared to be used to this though as he too constantly seemed to try and bend the rules (not that it ever helped).

Kairi flipped the page of her book and looked back down at the page. She read about half ways down before her face turned a bright shade of red. Naminé erupted into laughter in her head, causing Kairi to blush darker and slide down into the chair.

"What's wrong Kairi?" Riku said suddenly, causing her to look up at him.

"Uhh—nothing…"

Midori eyed the book before getting up and going around behind Kairi, reading it before the redhead could hide it. She too burst into laughter, patted Kairi's back and said, "Those books are terrible for that."

"Terrible for what?"

Both girls looked up to see Sora staring at them curious. Kairi's blush turned into a hue of red that matched her hair at his stare and shook her head violently. "Nothing Sora, don't worry."

"We're about five minutes away from the first world," he said after breaking his odd stare from her.

"Which one?" Mickey asked curiously, looking up from his massive book.

"The Forbidden World."

Everyone turned and looked at Midori, who had let out an odd sound at the name.

"Midi?" Riku said slowly. She shook her head at him.

"We're here!" Donald's voice echoed down the hallway.

"OK, I guess we're less then five minutes away," Sora corrected himself.

Everyone quickly made their way to the warp point, but Midori hesitated, a nervous looked plastered on her face. She took a deep breath before following them.

**VVVVVVVVVVVVV**

They traveled around the outskirts of the world first, searching high and low for anything that would resemble a gate. They had no clue what they were looking for exactly, and it would have been nice to know, but they persisted anyways. Already they had been on the deserted world for half of the day with no luck.

"It's not here," Donald said suddenly. "We've looked everywhere."

"It could still be here, but there's no one we can ask," Sora pointed out.

"Is it possible that it's in that there castle?" Everyone looked in the direction Goofy was pointing, towards a giant dilapidated structure.

"I think so," Mickey said hesitantly.

"That's as good a place to look as any," Donald agreed. Quickly the three animals rushed past everyone else.

"Wow, this place is…" Kairi trailed off as they walked through the city.

"Dead?" Midori suggested.

"Yeah."

Kairi held Sora's hand tightly as they passed through the darkened streets. Kairi couldn't help but feel nervous, feeling as if there were eyes staring at her from the darkened windows.

"What's the matter Kai?" Sora whispered in her ear.

"There's something evil here," Kairi said, moving closer to him. "They're watching us."

Sora looked at the windows. He could see nothing, but soon the eerie, paranoid feeling of being watched set in.

He stopped walking and let go of Kairi's hand. Slowly he walked towards the door of a house but a smaller hand grabbed his arm. Turning slightly he found Midori's gloved hand gripping his arm tightly, her eyes fixed onto the building.

"Don't," she said slowly. "Don't go in there. What time is it?"

"I dunno," Sora replied, cocking an eyebrow curiously.

"It's almost 7:30, why?" Riku asked.

"The sun goes down at 8:00," she whispered. "We need to get back to the gummi ship."

"But the castle's right there," Riku replied. "See, Donald, Goofy and Mickey went ahead and are at the entrance already."

Midori whipped around and cursed under her breath. She looked nervously at the sky then said, "Fine, let's hurry to the castle. We need to get to a safe place."

"What's going on?" Kairi said as they followed her. They were running through the streets with a confused looking Mickey, Donald and Goofy staring at their rapidly approaching figures.

The green haired girl took in a deep breath and said, "There's a safe place in the castle we can stay the night. Once the sun sets we'll die if we stay out here."

"How do you know this?" Sora asked as they rushed through the opening of the gates.

"This place used to be my home."

**VVVVVVVVVVVVV**

Midori had led them through the dilapidated castle, down a rather untrustworthy appearing staircase and to a giant concrete door. Using her Keyblade she managed to open it (with the help from Donald's magic) and they went inside before she sealed it. This room was completely intact and was filled with candles, food and other supplies.

"What's going on?" Mickey asked as they all sat down.

"We needed to get inside," Midori said. "In this world the sun always sets at 8:00 on the dot. It used to be no big deal until the Heartless and Nobodies came."

"You said this place used to be your home," Riku started. "And you seem to know the layout of this castle pretty well, so are you…?"

"No, I'm not a princess or anything," she replied. Her eyes glanced at everyone in turn before looking back at her silver-haired friend. "I did live here though. You see, this place has always been called The Forbidden World, but not because it was a terrible place. It's named that to stop people from coming to it. Our people were very protective of all our resources and did not like travelers at all."

"The first thing you need to understand is that the world wasn't always like this. At one time it was a friendly yet secretive place. Everyone enjoyed their time outside, as most people worked in the fields, or getting water from the icecaps in the mountain or drilling down to the underwater lakes. This was a nice place to live. The king and queen were fair to everyone, and even though the prince was rather shy and almost girl-ish, he still had great plans to help the world. This place, although ruled by a monarchy in general, has a very feminine society. No, that's not the right word…well here women have a higher status than men."

"Really?" Riku asked with surprise.

"Yes. Imagine how much of a shock it was to me when I left this place and hit the worlds were women were really looked down on. Anyways, I'm getting off track. The Heartless and darkly cloaked figures appeared here one day. The Heartless were ruthless and destroyed almost everything. In one of the scientific departments in the castle the scientists thought that they found the answer for killing a Heartless, but they were wrong. Instead it caused the remaining people to change…to become monsters."

"That's why you made us barricade ourselves in here, right?" Mickey said. It was more of a statement than a question.

Midori nodded and said, "They are almost like vampires. Sunlight kills them and they have fangs. They don't, however, drink people's blood. No, instead they drink their life forces and are drawn to people with strong amounts of light in them." She stopped talking when she noticed Sora get an angry look on his face as he pulled Kairi closer to him. The message that was radiating off of him was clear, he'd be damned if any of those things got their hands on his girl.

"Soon only those in the castle were left unturned," Midori explained. "Like I said, this place has a very high opinion on women, so high in fact, that I was chosen to be the Prince's bodyguard. He always did seem to need someone to watch after him, even as a kid. That's why I know how to use magic and to fight. Because I was his bodyguard I was one of the last ones alive in this place. The creatures that were once people couldn't get past the walls of the palace, but Heartless and Nobodies could. The cloaked figures, who I now know to be Organization XIII, came back and let the Heartless into the castle, wanting more hearts. They got them. The last two left were the prince and I. One of the Heartless, a solider one, got near him and I got in the way and…" she trailed off, her hand pressed over her heart uncomfortably.

"They took it," Sora finished for her. "They took your heart."

"Yes and no," she said slowly. "It started to take my heart but I killed it when my heart was only half ways out. The prince was grateful for my years of loyal service to him and his family, so he used his powers to push it back in. A Heartless got him after that and completely took his heart."

"Jesus," Riku breathed out.

"So what happens when a heart comes half way out of someone?" Goofy asked. "When they come all the way out a Heartless is made, and you're here."

Midori nodded and said, "You're right. I wasn't turned into a Heartless, but Prince Liramau was the one that saved me from that fate and forced me to live with a worse one."

"What do you mean, a worse one? What can be worse than being a Heartless?" Donald wondered.

"Being half of nothing."

"What?"

"Sora, Kairi, look at me for a moment, really look at me, and tell me who I remind you of," Midori demanded suddenly. "Just do it," she added in seeing their confused looks.

Both stared at her for a moment, Kairi with a confused look the entire time. Sora, well his face did originally match Kairi's with confusion, now held an odd look. His cerulean eyes were wide with surprise and his mouth opened and closed again.

"Jesus," he whispered. "How do we fix that?"

"I don't know," Midori replied while shaking her head.

"Fix what?" Riku asked. Everyone looked from the brunette to the green-haired girl with confusion.

Midori sighed and stood up, looking around the room for a moment before her eyes fell on a smashed picture frame in the corner. She walked over to it, picking it up hesitantly and stared at the faces in them. There were three people. Slowly she returned to her spot and sat down again. "This is a picture of me, my sister and Prince Liramau."

"You have black hair?" Riku asked while leaning over. She smiled slightly and nodded. Riku continued to stare at it, waiting for her or Sora to reveal what they were talking about earlier when he noticed something odd. He quickly ripped the picture out of Midori's hands and couldn't help but raise an eyebrow. "I thought you said most people from here are either tanned like you or black?"

"Well yes, but not everyone and not the prince. His father was from a different world and was very pale," she said with a shrug. "No one cared though. Why?"

"This is…Liramau…how do you spell that?"

"L-I-R-A-M-A-U. Why?"

Riku said silently, his eyes moving as he thought to himself. Suddenly he gasped and said, "He was turned into a Heartless, and a Nobody was created, right?"

"Unfortunately," Midori said with a said sigh.

"And then he was found by the Organization when they searched the castle for survivors and was taken into their folds, right?"

"What?" Everyone around the room asked.

"Add an X and mix around the letters. M-A-R-L-U-X-I-A. Marluxia, from the Organization! He was the one who tried to form a new Organization and was in charge of Castle Oblivion."

"It's true," Midori admitted sadly. "Liramau's dirty little secret was that he loved to work in the gardens. He had so many plans to help this place that way. His Nobody was a monster though. I confronted him once, in a way, and our of sheer anger at him I killed his Heartless and destroyed his heart so he could never be whole again." She seemed deeply ashamed.

"It wasn't you though, was it?" Sora asked suddenly. "You said you confronted him, in a way, but it wasn't actually you, right?"

Midori slowly nodded and said, "I still feel terrible though."

"I don't understand…so when he tried to save you instead of putting all your heart back in you…"

"Half," Midori confirmed.

"Half of what?" Kairi voice the question that everyone else was asking.

"Half of my heart was put back in. This, in a sense, created a nobody because technically my heart did leave my body, just not enough to create a Heartless."

"You-you only have half of a heart?" Riku asked in shock.

She nodded slowly. "Yeah, but I've never been part of the group Half-Hearts, but in a way that's what I am, isn't it? Everything I told you about being held captive by them was completely true. The reason I was there though was so Crysita could keep tabs on me."

"Why would she need to keep tabs on you?"

"I lied when I said I didn't know where she came from. She's from this place, from right here." Midori placed a hand over her heart as she spoke. "See, Crysita is half of me. She's my partial nobody."

**VVVVVVVVVVVVV**

**Author's Note**

So who saw that coming? The whole Crysita & Midori being two halves of the same person thing? I imagine some people might have had theories about that…

And yes, Marluxia was a spoiled little prince! It just fit too well!

So what do you think Kairi read that got her so embarssed? Lol, I think we all can guess! My mom reads those books all the time, but I find them rather useless. :S

Just so everyone knows, those characters that I mentioned that were with Maleficient actually won't be making another appearance in these stories. They just had small cameos!

Thank you to everyone who reviewed! I heart you all! D

RockCityRoadStar – I agree, Kingdom Hearts would NEVER be Kingdom Hearts without Sora, but I am still intrigued by Birth by Sleep because you know that Ven has something to do with Roxas, ergo he has something to do with Sora! Lol The Dark Knight was great and we all are weird kids…

Kanie – lol thank you! I only get cokies? No cookies? Lol I know what you meant! ) Update wasn't quite as fast this time but I was busy swimming (lol that and I had to watch my sister are the excuses I always use!). Glad you liked the chapters so far

Iaveina – lmao happyfulish chapter of Sora with anger issues! I did have fun writing an angry Sora though! I giggled through the entire thing! No, those worlds will not be visited…except for maybe one if I remember right, but the bad guy doesn't make an appearance (too scared of Sora's crankyness!). They can't be ANCIENT Keybearers. Why? Because BBS only takes place 10 years before the first KH. Yeah little Sora and Riku make a cameo in BBS! I've seen it in clips. Rant away my friend and thanks!

DAN88 – lol band camp…I'll take your word for it, although a painful sunburn could just mean that you decided sleeping in the sun for a few hours straight would be a good idea! Take a guess who I'm making fun of! Air might be cleared up soon…maybe…sorta…

Zenisha de figuero con ausertz – lol Yzma amuses me so much, especially on the TV show Emperor's New School. And Prince John made me laugh when I saw Robin Hood again a few weeks ago so I had to put him in. You never know, Square Enix might fit them into a game. I'd have to say that my favorite Disney villain of all time is Hades, so I'm SO happy that he was in all the KH games so far.

Again thank you to everyone else and remember to tell me what you think of this chapter! I'll update as soon as I possibly can, promise!

_**Krystal Lily Potter**_


	26. Everything Burns

**Shadows of a Dream**

_**Chapter Twenty-Five – Everything Burns**_

The first world was a blunder in the fact that the gate was not there. It was, however, an informative world. Midori's dark secret that she had kept so long was now in the open. Nobody spoke of that for the moment, instead they whispered about the true identity of Marluxia.

"_Figures he had to be a flower loving prince,"_ Roxas muttered inside Sora's head. This caused the brunet to spend a good 15 minutes laughing before anyone could calm him down.

Riku had been silent since they returned to the gummi ship. Soon after Sora's fit of laughter he and Kairi quickly vacated the premises, having caught onto their silver-haired friend's rather miffed attitude. Mickey too understood, and with Goofy's help dragged a confused Donald out of the room.

Midori sighed and turned to him before saying, "Look Riku—"

"Were you ever going to tell us?" Riku snapped. "Were you ever going to tell us that you were a…well partially a Nobody."

"But I'm not," she said with a frown.

"Yes you are. You and Crysita are the same. A Nobody doesn't need to be evil to be a Nobody. You two are just two complete halves to one person. I imagine you looked a little different before you became a Nobody. That the black hair we seen in the picture was your natural hair color?"

Slowly she nodded and said, "I assume you know this because of the Organization."

"Yeah, I hung around there for awhile."

"Me too, well Crysita did."

This caught Riku's attention, causing him to tilt his head in an almost Sora-like gesture. This didn't escape her notice but Midori didn't say anything about that. "Yeah, that was where she got her whole domination idea from. She found them all idiots though and took off not long after Roxas did. She was the fourteenth member."

"I had heard rumors about a fourteen," Riku admitted slowly. "But I didn't think it was true."

"Oh yes, happy old Crysita was in the Organization," Midori said bitterly. "I see her memories from time to time."

There was a silence between the two before Riku's eyes widened and he said, "Wait, you see her memories? Tell me, can you sense her Midi?"

"What?"

"Try finding Crysita."

She closed her eyes for a moment before she said, "I don't know where she is but I can feel her."

"Damn it all to Hades!" Riku cried out while jumping up.

"What?" Midori asked, following his lead.

"You don't get it," Riku said. "If you can feel her and see her memories what's stopping her from seeing yours?"

**VVVVVVVV**

"This is a terrible idea Riku."

"You said you can feel things easier than most people so just feel your way around. That way she doesn't know where you are or what's going on but you can still feel to fight if you need to," he replied.

"Riku," Sora said slowly as he stared at the two of them. "You blindfolded her."

"I could do it," Riku replied with a shrug. "But maybe you're right maybe we should—"

"Excuse me?" Midori snapped. "Anything you can do I can do better!"

Kairi giggled and moved closer to Sora so only he could hear her sing, "I can do anything better than you."

He took several deep breaths to hold in his laughter before saying, "If they break out into song the Half-Hearts won't have to worry about me, I'll die from laughter." Fortunately for them Roxas and Naminé, whose laughter echoed in both of their Others' heads, used all of their amusement on the situation up.

"Do we have to go here?" Donald asked as he looked out the window.

Sora stared at the world, looking at the large craters filled to the brim with lava. "Unfortunately, yes."

"It's ok Donald, we won't turn you into a roast duck," Riku joked.

"Why would he be a roast duck?" Midori asked curiously.

"Because the world is covered in lava," Goofy said cheerfully.

"Makes sense, the world is called Flaming Waters," Sora said.

"Ok, so we're going to a world that's covered in lava with a blindfold over my head," Midori said calmly before raising her voice. "Does anyone else see the problem with that?"

"I could have done it," Riku scoffed.

There was a pause before the green haired girl hissed, "Let's move."

**VVVVVVVV**

"Donald, is there anything you can turn us into?" Kairi groaned after only a few minutes of being on the world. "It's ridiculously hot here."

"I could put shields of ice around us," the duck said slowly.

"That'd melt too fast," Sora said.

'_Hey, if it makes you feel any better I got amazing air conditioning in your head,' _Roxas joked.

"What?" Sora said aloud, causing everyone to look at him. "I'll give you air conditioning!"

"Sora, you're talking to yourself," Goofy observed.

"No, I'm talking to Roxas…who technically is me so yeah, I guess I'm talking to myself," Sora said while scratching his head. Already he had discarded his gloves, shoving them into the pockets of his magical pants. His vest now followed and everyone started in wonder as they too fit into the pocket of his pants.

"What?" Midori said as she stumbled a bit, but Goofy helped her upright.

"Sora can fit everything in his pants," Kairi muttered.

Midori had moved forward and almost tripped again, but Kairi helped her up just in time for the blindfolded girl to hear her words. She giggled at the younger girl's words and nudged her lightly before saying, "Thinking of those harlequins again?"

Kairi glared but then, realizing that she couldn't see her said, "I should lead you into one of the lava pools."

"And be stuck with this all this testosterone around? Naminé doesn't count for helping you."

Kairi shrugged and helped the other girl along. Midori was doing well on her own for being forcefully handicapped for everyone else's safety, but still she needed help from time to time.

Sora was well ahead of everyone else, quickly scowering over the hot rocks, staring in wonder at the world around him.

'_Axel would have loved it here,'_ Roxas commented. _'It'd be so easy to set off any kind of bombs or fireworks.'_

"Great, now I have a pyro hanging around in my air conditioned head," Sora muttered jokingly.

'_Yup, just sitting back and relaxing while playing with a lighter. Don't worry, there's not much to destroy in here.'_

Sora ignored the comment his Nobody made as he quickly rushed up a hill, careful not to slide off of either of the sides. Lord knows that if he slipped he would tumble into one of the pools of magma, or worse! What worse was, he didn't know, but he knew it was there.

Sora choked as he tried to take in a deep breath, but instead his lungs were filled with sooty air. That's right, Sora thought, Donald had warned them about breathing too heavily here.

He closed his eyes for a moment but they quickly snapped open when he heard something shuffling from his right. Despite having quick reflexes Sora couldn't dodge the large wooden club that flew at him in time. It slammed into his stomach, taking the wind out of him and causing him to fall back down the hill, skidding painfully over the sharp rocks and gravel that littered the ground.

"Sora!" Kairi screamed and quickly tried to rush to him.

Midori grabbed her arms and said, "There's something else there! I can feel it."

Sure enough, only a mere second later, a black portal opened and a figure in all black appeared only a few feet away from Sora. The boy in question sat up, wincing at the pain in his stomach, but calling his Keyblade forth all the same.

"It's a Half-Heart!" Goofy cried out, stating the obvious but no one paid attention.

"Remember me?" the half-Nobody growled with anger. Sora stared at him for only a split second before recognizing him. Not only did his red hair and silver eyes stand out, but his lack of one arm revealed his identity with ease.

"Sarlio!"

"Bingo," the crazed young man said before leaping at Sora with his club. "You took my arm, I'll take your head."

The club was intercepted by The Way to Dawn as Riku jumped in the fight. He slashed at the Nobody's weapon vicious but the wood would not break, no matter how much force he put behind his Keyblade.

Sarlio backed up and was prepared to launch another attack, but this time he was stopped by King Mickey. The two wielders continued fighting against the Half-Heart while everyone else crowded around Sora. Donald used cure on Sora's stomach, allowing him the strength to stand, but there were still cuts on Sora's body and a large, nasty bruise on his stomach.

A yell of pain directed everyone's attention to the fight. Riku was tackled to the ground by about ten Dusks as they appeared out of nowhere to aid their master.

Midori whipped off her blindfold, throwing her own pride away while doing so. Who cares at the moment if she couldn't beat Riku at fighting without vision? She would care later when he rubbed it in her face, but the wellbeing of her friends was more important now.

She summoned Twilight and jumped into the fight, slicing the Nobodies off of Riku.

"How did he find us?" Kairi asked aloud as she helped Sora stand.

Sarlio, while having the disadvantage of only one arm, proved to have sharp hearing. He jumped over the other three wielders, landed on a hill out of their reach and said, "Simple, you told Midori here where you were going. Crysita always listens in on her thoughts these days."

Kairi had pointed out to the others that Midori would know where they were even though she couldn't see it. Nobody had really thought of a way to get around that though so they chose to ignore that fact.

The brown-eyed girl winced and said, "You'll regret spying, you all will!" She lunged at him again. His movements were quicker than hers though, and he ended up flipping her over, causing Midori to slide off the hill and almost into a crater of lava.

Kairi, being the closest, let go of Sora and ran to the other girl, catching her arm just in time and helping to yank her onto the safety of the rocky ground.

More Nobodies were appearing around them and soon everyone was in action. In the flurry of white, however, they had lost track of Sarlio.

Sora slammed the Ultima Weapon through several Nobodies before Roxas cried out a warning in his head. He moved just in time before a large splinter could puncture him, but the combination of the pain from his earlier injury and the way he twisted was enough to make him lose his footing and fall down, slammed the back of his head to the ground.

Stars erupted in Sora's vision before Sarlio appeared over him, surrounded by Dusks and Samurai Nobodies.

"Have fun in death," Sarlio growled before raising his club up in a rather dramatic fashion.

_'Sora!'_ Roxas yelled out. _'I'm not injured! Let me take over!'_

There was a flash of light as Roxas and Sora switched places. Calling Oblivion to appear as a second Keyblade, Roxas quickly brought them in a defensive x in front of his face, causing the club to slam into that.

Sarlio had come prepared for all the wielder's tricks, or so he thought, but this sudden shift of person startled him to no end.

Roxas took the stunned silence to his advantage and lunged at the Half-Heart, sending him spiraling backwards.

"Nobodies!" Sarlio yelled as he pushed himself up. "Attack!"

"Stop!" Roxas yelled back at them as they started to rush towards him. Much to everyone's shock the Samurai Nobodies stopped moving and appeared to be waiting for orders.

Roxas slashed at the creatures that came his way and yelled, "Trap Sarlio!" The Samurai's complied with their original master.

"What's happening?" Kairi cried out to anyone that would answer.

"When in the Organization Roxas was given control over the Samurai's. I guess that didn't change," Riku called back.

Roxas took this rediscovered control to his advantage and these stronger Nobodies to destroy the weaker Dusks while everyone else took care of Sarlio.

Sarlio looked around as they surrounded him, although nerves were starting to creep up (he did have half a heart, so he could feel a bit) he wasn't worried. Everyone had their weaknesses. It took him only a moment to realize that the blond boy must be the Keyblade Master's Nobody that Crysita had told them about. This worked out fine for Sarlio though, because that just meant he had the same weaknesses as his Other.

What happened next happened much too fast. Sarlio swung his club around, slamming Donald, Mickey and Kairi to the ground. While the two animals fell unconscious, Kairi pushed herself up with a painful groan. A flash of light identical to the one that surrounded Sora appeared around her, and instead of the red-haired princess a blond girl stood up, Oathkeeper clutched in her hand tightly.

Goofy, surprisingly enough as that was, was the first to make a move. He jumped forward, slamming his shield down over Sarlio's head. Then Riku, Midori, Roxas and Naminé surrounded him in a close-knit group.

"You're not going to tell us anything, are you?" Midori snapped.

"Why would I need to?"

"You're kind of surrounded there genius," Riku muttered, waving the Way to Dawn threateningly.

"You cannot stop us. Thanks to her, we know all your moves at all times," Sarlio said with a maniacal look on his face. Midori took a step back at his words and looked at the ground, ashamed that she was the reason behind all of this.

"Leave her alone," Riku growled angrily.

Sarlio raised his club again and, instead of striking Midori like they had expected, he twisted quickly and brought it down towards Roxas.

It never met its mark.

Sarlio let out a choking sound as the club limply fell from his hand. He looked down and saw the blood gushing from his wound and turned slowly. Naminé stood behind him, a rather stunned look on her face at what she had done. The white metal of Oathkeeper was now painted a deep red, the color of blood.

Sarlio laughed at the irony of this. The quiet and rather useless seeming princess was the one to kill the first Half-Heart. He bet Crysita would be stunned by this when she peered into Midori's memories later on.

They all watched as the Nobody fell to the ground and stopped moving before fading away.

"What did I just do?" Naminé whispered as she dropped Oathkeeper. It vanished in a flutter of white sparkles but didn't return to her hand. "I-I killed him!"

"You did what you had to do," Roxas said as he appeared at her side and put a hand on her shoulder. "Look at what he did to Donald and Mickey. Feel what he did to Sora and Kairi. You did the right thing."

She nodded slowly, but still looked at the bloodstain on her white dress with a disbelieving stare.

Goofy moved over and picked up Donald and Riku picked up Mickey. Midori watched this before saying, "Looks like we need to go back to the gummi ship to heal up before searching more."

"The gate's not here," Naminé said suddenly. "I saw that in his mind when I—well…"

Roxas squeezed her shoulder a little tighter.

Midori nodded, understanding what she was trying to say. Although she was half tempted to run off and leave everyone for what she had done, the look Riku sent her (the one that meant, you're-coming-with-us-because-we-need-to-talk) forced her to follow them back to the gummi ship.

"So, I'm going to find a bed or a couch to lay on," Roxas said suddenly. "Naminé I suggest you do the same." She nodded her head.

"Why?" Goofy asked as they approached the portal to go back to the ship.

"Because once we change back to Sora and Kairi they are going to be in a world of pain. Might as well make they comfortable first because neither of us want to deal with their whining," Roxas said as he blinked his eyes rapidly. Exhaustion suddenly swept over him, and he wanted nothing more than to find a nice quiet place in Sora's mind to sleep in. Naminé had similar ideas but in Kairi's mind.

Riku, Goofy and Midori managed to give weak smiles at his words, but it was better than nothing. It was still a smile all the same.

**VVVVVVVV**

**Author's Note**

Before anyone asks how it's possible that Roxas can be healthy when Sora is not, when they share one body, the answer to that is simple: I have no clue so just nod your head and go along with it? Ok? OK!

Soooo what did everyone think of this chapter? It's not my favorite but definitely not my least favorite! I'd have to say the Lion King chapter was my least favorite…oh and there's a rather useless chapter coming up in the future sometime that I HAD to write, but it kinda makes sense that the world is useless for the most part…you'll see…

Thank you (like always) to everyone who reviewed!! You guys are the reason this story exists as of now!

DAN88 – AHH! (waves a cookie around) wake up! Don't pass out from thinking too hard! I'll be honest with you, I have no clue what's going on either! And I wrote it! I suppose I understand a little more but ya know…I get confused easily!

The Key of Hope – No worries bout not reviewing! The whole Door to Light thing was kind of random and spur of the moment, but I wanted to have a small explanation of where Sora's powers were coming from and not just make him super-powered for no reason. A Half-Heart is an exact half of a person. For instance Sora and Roxas would each get half their heart, making them not quite whole but not quite a Nobody either. Oh, and if that happened to Sora and Roxas, something would change about Sora too (hair or eyes for instance) to show he's not whole. Confusing, I know.

RockCityRoadStar – Kairi was ready diiiiiiiiiirty books, but she didn't mean to! I thought this up when I saw my mom reading them. Wow, sucks to be you (the being sick part). The last time I was really sick was when I was in grade 11…and I went out Friday, Saturday and Sunday (when I was dizzy and all) and saw movies at the theatre and then watched a movie on Monday at home…and cried in every single one even though there wasn't a reason to…I mean I cried in Star Wars III! Ew needles. Wow, now that's a threat!

Iaveina – That was actually a last minute decision to make the Prince Marluxia, but once I got the idea I laughed for a good hour about it! I also wanted a different name for him that didn't sound quite as…girly…but it was impossible as Liramau still sounds girly…at least in my head because I have no clue how you'd actually pronounce that. Time travel eh? Glad I did a good job with Yzma. If I write anything else I think I want to put her in it.

Kanie – YAY! Stuff with lots of sugar in it. If Holly wasn't on vacation now this would be where she'd kill you for suggesting to give me so much sugar, but oh well. Yeah I won't be able to use the watching my sister excuse for much longer because she's 13 now and looks like she's 16 --'

So everyone, tell me what you think of this chapter, or just do as some people do and 'review' with completely random things that have to do with nothing at all! I love those kind of things too! Lol and I wonder why people call me simple minded!

_**Krystal Lily Potter **_


	27. The Last Night

**Shadows of a Dream**

_**Chapter Twenty-Six – The Last Night**_

Sora stared up at the colored ceiling in his room trying to fall asleep, but without any success. It wasn't that the bed was uncomfortable (it was better than the ground any day), it wasn't because of the movement of the ship (he was too used to that) nor was it from Riku's snoring next door because…well the walls were soundproof.

No, he wasn't quiet sure what was bothering him. It wasn't Roxas. His Nobody was rather exhausted from the battle he fought in Flaming Waters and had settled on sleeping in a dark corner of Sora's mind where he couldn't be found. It could have been that he had been injured badly earlier in both the stomach and the head, or maybe because he was worried over Kairi's condition (even though he knew she was fine and in better shape than he was).

No, that wasn't it.

Sora sat up, and looked out the porthole that was in his room. He watched the stars that were left race past them, but there wasn't nearly as many as when he, Donald and Goofy zoomed around the universe trying to stop the Organization. No, this reminded him more of his first adventure.

It was hard to believe that his first adventure had been two and a half years ago already. If he was judging right he'd be seventeen in about two weeks, but he wasn't going to mention it. It wasn't important right now.

The dim light that followed the opening of his door startled Sora, causing him to turn and stare curiously in that direction. A small smile appeared on his face as he saw Kairi's darkened figure heading towards him. She sat on the edge of his bed in silence.

"I couldn't sleep," she said after a moment. "I haven't been able to sleep very well for the last little while."

"What's the matter?" he asked her.

"I just…well nightmares and everything, but I think the reason I can't sleep is because I'm so used to being with you."

Sora blushed at her words and chuckled slightly as he reached forward and yanked her down beside him, cradling her close to him. "I think that's something I can fix."

"What if Riku sees? Or Donald? Or Midori?"

"I don't care," Sora muttered as he kissed her forehead lightly.

'_Ask him,'_ Naminé's words echoed through Kairi's mind, reminding her of the conversation she had with both Naminé and Midori earlier while Midori had tended to her wounds.

She moved so that she was looking him directly in his closed eyes. Slowly they opened and he tilted his head slightly with a curious look in his eyes, silently asking her what she wanted.

"What are we Sora?"

"Huh?"

Turning her gaze away from him she said, "In some worlds you tell them that I'm your friend, in others I'm your girlfriend, and still in others, like Pride Land, you have no clue what to say."

"In my defense in Pride Land they have 'mates' as in husband and wife, so I didn't know what to say," Sora said.

"We have never once gotten the chance to talk before now, it was never appropriate but…Sora…what am I to you?"

In his tired, confused mind Sora had no clue what she was asking him. If Roxas were awake Sora was sure he would have been abused verbally for his obvious stupidity. He continued to stare into Kairi's eyes curiously until it struck him what she was asking…what she wanted to hear.

Sora started rubbing her back gently and said, "You shouldn't have to ask."

She already knew this, but that wasn't the point. "A girl likes to be told how important she is."

Sora moved one of his hands up to her cheek and said, "I care about you more than anything else in the universe Kairi. I love you."

He didn't need some massive speech about how much he loved her and how he would kill himself ten times over for her. In fact, he thought his confession might have been a little long as it was. There was no need for a long explanation because Kairi knew how far he'd go for her, and he knew that for a fact. He didn't need to explain to her that they had always been destined for one another, or that they were one and always would be. He didn't need to tell her that she was an angel (even though he did see her as one) because he knew she had her flaws too, but those flaws made her who she was and he wouldn't change them.

As it was, she was glad he didn't give some long spiel. It was just him and her and those simple words that meant so much.

A huge smile appeared on the redhead's face as she buried her face in the crook of his neck and said, "I love you too Sora, and thank you."

"I don't know why I didn't tell you earlier," he said. "I've known that I've felt that way since I was 14."

Kairi laughed and shifted so that she was laying at his side instead of hovering over him.

Sora twisted so he was facing her and smiled warmly as he ran his hand down her neck until it rested on her shoulder.

Kairi leaned towards him and their lips met in a deep kiss. Sora pulled her as close to him as he possibly could, running his hands up and down her back soothingly as they continued to kiss.

'_Was gon on?' _Roxas suddenly muttered tiredly.

'_Shut up and enjoy it Roxas,'_ Naminé replied with a laugh, effectively shutting up the blond boy.

Neither of them noticed the door to Sora's room open a bit before closing quickly.

**VVVVVVVV**

Riku made his way back to the bridge from Sora's room. He knew his friend had been having sleeping problems, but he was sure that Kairi would resolve them.

He stared in at Goofy, who was taking his turn driving the ship for the night. The large dog took no notice of Riku, but kept staring out the window with a determined yet morbid look. Something that was rarely seen on his happy face.

Riku shook his head sadly, knowing that Goofy blamed himself for his young son's capture. Those thoughts made him think of Donald, who had admitted that he was awfully tough on his young nephews and regretted it now. Goofy also felt guilty for his two close friends getting injured so badly earlier, although he didn't say it out loud.

Deciding not to bother the large dog, Riku continued passed the bridge and found himself in the ship's galley, or kitchen as he called it.

Midori lay slumped over on the table, looking rather uncomfortable. She muttered under her breath as Riku chuckled at her. This girl amused and annoyed him beyond comprehension. She was a sweetheart towards people whom she wasn't necessarily familiar with, but as soon as she became friends with someone her rather sarcastic attitude came out. He wondered what she acted like when she had a complete heart, not just half of it. He hoped that she wasn't much different.

He walked over and sat beside her, staring at her curiously. There was so much about her he didn't know, he realized, and he had been traveling with her for months now. It still struck him as odd how the girl, in all actuality, had black hair, not the deep green he was used to. He wondered if there were any other differences in her from when she was whole, since both she and Crysita had been changed slightly when they were separated from one another. The picture he had found had been cracked on Forbidden World hadn't really given him a good enough picture of who she used to be.

A frown appeared on Riku's face as it finally sunk in how terrible she must feel about Crysita doing what she was. They were two halves to one whole, even more so than Roxas was to Sora and Naminé to Kairi. They literally each held half of what they once were; it just happened that Crysita held the half with the darkness in her. He knew how guilty she felt about leading the Half-Hearts to them, she had admitted that much and went as far as suggesting that she leave. All of them argued with that and said they'd rather have her with them. If Crysita wanted to play dirty like she was than they could do it back. Midori was going to become their main spy.

Midori groaned as she shifted, and because Riku felt sorry for her (or so he told himself) and because he was a nice guy (not comparing himself to Sora, but the brunette was pretty much a self-proclaimed sap anyways), he stood up and grabbed the older girl and carried her towards her room.

Passing Sora's on the way he couldn't help but smile at the thought of how much his friends deserved one another, especially now. Still, a bit of jealousy stuck Riku at the thought. It was true that he and Sora viciously fought over Kairi when they were younger, but looking back Riku had to admit, he was fighting a losing battle the entire time.

Midori muttered something and twisted around, accidentally smacking Riku in the head.

He winced and glared down at her sleeping form before opening the door to her room and walking in. She twisted again and this time elbowed his chest, causing him to let out an 'oomf' and drop her. Luckily she landed on her bed; unluckily her leg smacked the edge of it, effectively waking her up with a curse.

Her brown eyes glared at his green ones as she snapped, "What are you doing in my room?!"

"I brought you here," Riku said while rolling his eyes. "You fell asleep in the kitchen and we all need our rest for the next world."

If there was one thing Midori did not like doing, it was apologizing. Instead she picked up on what Riku said and replied, "It's called a galley on a ship, not a kitchen."

"Who cares?"

"Me, that's who!"

"You're awfully restless when you sleep you know," Riku said after a moment of silence. "That's why I dropped you. First you smacked me on the head, but I dropped you when you elbowed me in the chest."

"I've always been a light sleeper," Midori said after a moment. "When I was guarding the Prince in my world I had to be ready for anything at any moment. Recently though, I've been able to sleep through anything, even my nightmares. I assume sometimes that I see Crysita's memories by accident, like not when I try, since we are half of each other."

Riku nodded and said, "When we were healing Sora, Roxas saw his memories as Naminé put them back, so you probably are."

She stared at the floor and said, "Thank you for bringing me back here Riku, but you should get some sleep."

"I don't think anybody's asleep," Riku commented. "I walked past Mickey's room earlier and he was pacing back and forth, Goofy's flying, I know Donald's asleep because I can't hear his snoring (he always slept with his door partially open), and Sora and Kairi were in his room."

Midori couldn't help but giggle as she watched Riku leave the room. When he reached the door he gave her a curious look. Knowing he was questioning what she found so funny she said, "I wonder if that means you'll be an uncle soon?"

Riku's face exploded in color as he stuttered, "They—I—they're not like that."

"You don't know what's happened over the past year," Midori mumbled as she turned to face the wall and started to fall asleep.

Riku closed her door behind him, shot a look at Sora's room and went back to his, muttering as he went.

**VVVVVVVV**

Sora's eyes slowly opened as he glanced to his left at the clock in his room. It read only 2:19 a.m. With a quiet groan Sora tried to shift slightly, but another warm body held him down. Looking over he saw Kairi's head resting on his bare chest with one arm at her side and the other splayed across his ribcage.

Slowly a bright red blush covered Sora's cheeks when he saw their state of undress and remembered why they were like that. He couldn't help but grin as he hugged her a little tighter, just to assure himself again that she was indeed real.

With a loud yawn he rested his head on top of hers and slowly started to drift off to sleep. Kairi, however, took this moment to stir slightly and looked at him tiredly. She leaned forward and kissed him quickly before getting comfortable against and drifting off.

As the two slowly started to fall back asleep there was a quick flash and instead two blonds were in their exact spots, but only for a split second.

**VVVVVVVV**

**Author's Note**

lol nothing wrong with implying things that I won't actually write! Poor Riku, I made Midori beat him up in her sleep! I laughed while writing that part and I'm not really sure why…

Thank you to all who reviewed! I really really really REALLY appreciate it!

The Key of Hope – lol glad you like some of my rather random and spur of the moment ideas! I wouldn't feel bad for Namine, the girl needs to set the sketchbook aside and stop being useless!

DAN88 – lmao the air is clearing a bit more because of a cookie? I'm kidden, I know what you mean! Lol emo Namine! Or bubbly 'OMG LETS WEAR PINK AND BE A TYPICAL PRINCESS' Kairi being emo! That's just too funny so no…Riku can be emo enough for both of them!

Iaveina – Tell you what, I'll consider both of those as one massive review of doom. OK? Lol good for you and your big words, and yeah, I was trying to make it sound a little more masculine. AHHH! CLOWN MUSIC IS EVIL!! (hides and starts typing reviews from in a box). Yes he did try to kill Sora and I'm glad you enjoyed that quote. And no, your other review didn't fix itself so you don't sound like a complete idiot! Oooo black hole! CREEPY CLOWN MUSIC can't follow you there!!

Holly Skyla Hart – Yes, I am so jealous of the sunburn you've aquired because you're too stubborn to wear sunscreen! And yeah, I agree that Namine was being a wimp. She should be happy that she completely pwnd the beat that kicked everyone else's ass! I swear if you keep singing that song I'm going to sneak over to your house and shave off your hair when you're sleeping! So help me god! Ewwww polka dots are evil…LIKE CREEPY CLOWN MUSIC!! AHHHHHHH!!

RockCityRoadStar – Good job on being the hundreth review! You're prize is the satisfaction of knowing that Sora indeed has magical pants! Lol! Actually I played the first part of KHII again and the fairies are all like 'yay these clothes are magical Charlie—I mean Sora' and then I actually remembered your story so I decided to slip that in there as well. My grandfather has three tools that fix everything that's broken: a hammer, WD40, and ducktape. No kidden, he even duck taped a branch on the tree that broke. Wanna know what scares me?? POLKA DOTS AND CREEPY CLOWN MUSIC! …and the thought of ME driving but I think that scares everyone…and that's the reason I don't have my license!

10 cookies to the person who can figure out exactly which song the chapter title comes from!!

Well remember to tell me what you all think of this chapter!! Wow we're getting kinda close to the end…kinda really close…

_**Krystal Lily Potter**_


	28. Sanctuary

**Shadows of a Dream**

_**Chapter Twenty-Seven – Sanctuary**_

Midori looked up as she heard a yawn and couldn't help but smirk mischievously as Sora entered the galley (Not the kitchen!). The young man ignored her, instead he went about his normal morning routine by digging through the fridge for whatever he could find.

"So Sora," she said impishly. "Anything happen last night? I was out like a light."

Sora, who was drinking a glass of orange juice choked on it. He beat his chest for a moment before saying, "W-what?"

"I would have slept through anything last night," Midori said with an innocent, sweet tone. "So I was wonder if there were any troubles traveling? Any Heartless ships?"

"Oh—I—erm…I don't know," he said while shifted uncomfortably. "I was asleep all night. Why?"

With a knowing smirk she shrugged and said, "You seem awfully nervous Sora."

He scoffed and said, "I'm not. Oh, hi Riku." Sora quickly shot his friend a grin before darting out of the room and down the hall.

Riku raised an eyebrow at his friend's retreating back before glancing at Midori with a curious look.

Midori shook her head with a grin.

"Welp fellas, we're approaching the next planet," Mickey said as he entered the room. "We should be there in about a half an hour. Donald and Goofy are piloting the ship but someone should wake up Sora and Kairi."

"Sora's awake," Riku replied. "He was heading back to the bedrooms, so I think he's going to wake up Kairi."

Midori snorted in a rather unlady-like way and seemed only slightly embarrassed when everyone looked in her direction. She had a knowing smirk on her face as she said, "Where are we heading?"

"Some place called Ohana."

**VVVVVVVVVVV**

"Kairi, wake up," Sora whispered to her as he shook her gently.

Slowly her eyes opened and glanced at him. She observed his pink tinted cheeks with confusion until she realized why. Letting out a small squeak she hauled the comforter closer to her as he stood up and muttered something about waiting in the hall before running out of the room.

She quickly gathered her clothes, threw them on and rushed out of the room, crashing into Sora's back and causing him to fall to the floor. He turned and flushed deeply at her, but accepted her hand and jumped off of the ground.

"Sora," Kairi said. "I don't want this to change us."

He hugged her after a moment and said, "It won't, I promise. We're almost to the next world."

"What is it?"

"I don't know which one was closest," he mumbled into her hair.

"Sora…"

"What's the matter?" he asked with a frown as he backed away to look at her.

"You promise nothing will change?"

Sora grinned impishly and said, "Well I can't promise that, but I promise nothing bad will happen between us, ok?"

Kairi thought it over before nodding and saying, "I'm hungry, let's go to the kitchen."

"Er…just be prepared for some odd comments and smirks from Midori," Roxas said as he appeared beside Sora, who nodded quickly.

"Why?" Naminé asked as she appeared beside her Other. Both girls crossed their arms and tapped their feet impatiently.

"We didn't say anything," Sora said while motioning to himself and Roxas. "But I think she…knows."

"I hope Crysita doesn't find that out and try to use it against us," Kairi muttered as she moved towards Sora and leaned her forehead onto his shoulder.

"Don't worry," he soothed. "Nothing's going to happen, I promise."

**VVVVVVVVVVV**

Donald rubbed his eyes as he stepped out of the portal from the gummi ship. The brilliant island sun stung his eyes after hours of traveling through the darkness of space with only fluorescent lights to brighten the place.

"Oh my god," they heard Kairi whisper in a small voice as she surveyed the place. She, Riku and Sora had similar looks of awe on their faces.

"This looks just like—" Sora started.

"Home," Riku finished.

It was true, the white sand on the beach, the vivid blue ocean, the warm sun in the clear sky and the tropical landscape reminded them all eerily of Destiny Islands. Midori, who had never seen their islands before, understood that being there must have been hard for them.

"Do you think it's here?" Goofy asked. "The gate?"

"We have to look for it," Riku said. "We should split up and look."

"Donald, Goofy and Mickey can go that way," Sora said quickly, pointing to the right. "Kairi and Midori can check out the other end of the beach and Riku, you and I will take a trip towards the town."

Everyone nodded and quickly split off into their groups, hoping that this place, Ohana, held the answer to all their problems.

**VVVVVVVVVVV**

The search was silent for the first half an hour, but soon Riku found himself unable to keep silent any longer. His green eyes kept turning back to a quiet Sora, who seemed more interested in his own thoughts that finding the gate to Twilight's Destiny.

"So," Riku started. "I'm surprised you let Kairi out of your sight."

A small smile appeared on Sora's face as he said, "I haven't spent any time with you in nearly a year Riku. I figured that this was as good a time as any. Besides, I think it'd be good for Kairi to talk to another girl, since she's usually stuck with a group of all guys, you know? Selphie doesn't count."

Riku nodded and said, "Yeah, it's probably best for Midori as well. She doesn't like talking to me that much."

"You two always talk to one another," Sora countered. "At first she seemed shy to talk around anyone but then she just took to arguing with you, teasing me and…well I haven't seen her interact with Kairi much."

"I think she's intimidated by other girls," Riku said slowly. "Remember what she said about her world being a female dominant one? In a way she probably feels more superior around us, but because of who we are it's not that bad, just enough to make her feel comfortable. Kairi, however sweet and friendly she may be, is a Princess and that probably intimidates her."

"I never thought about it that way," Sora said while tilting his head slightly. He stopped walking and his eyes closed. "You know, I don't think it's here: the entrance to Twlighlt's Destiny. We don't even know what we're looking for, but I just have a strong feeling it's not here."

"Oh?"

"It's too bright and cheerful here," Sora said while shaking his head. "I think it's either in an old or rundown place, or both."

"That's why you're so comfortable with letting Kairi out of your sight."

"For the most part."

Riku couldn't help but laugh deeply as he said, "You're just itching to go check up on her."

Sora blushed but said nothing.

"You're whipped buddy."

Sora mumbled under his breath before saying, "Do you think we can beat them?"

"The Half-Hearts? Yeah. You doubt it?" Riku asked curiously.

"I just have a feeling that something really bad is going to happen," Sora said while looking up at the sky, his hands resting behind his head. There was no smile on his face, and it startled Riku to see how blank Sora's eyes seemed. "We won't be able to prevent it and…"

"We'll beat it," Riku interrupted confidently. "We might not be able to stop it from actually happening, but we'll make sure whatever it is doesn't get too bad. Promise."

"You can't promise that."

"You say all sorts of ridiculous things and pull them off."

"Promise wise yes," Sora said, a smirk playing over his face. "You, however, suck at that. Just stick to beating things up. It's what you're good at."

"Hypocrite."

**VVVVVVVVVVV**

Kairi hummed to herself as she walked along the sandy beach. Her eyes were closed and her face was turned up to the son with a content smile.

"You seem awfully at ease," Midori said slowly.

"It's not here, the gate," Kairi said as she opened her eyes to look at her newest friend. "I saw the look on Sora's face the second we got here. Somehow he knew it wasn't here."

"He's a strange boy," Midori said as she stopped walking and sat on the ground. "He knows things without knowing how."

"He does that from time to time and barely realizes it," Kairi said with a small smile as she sat down beside Midori. "He's not the brightest star in the sky, but I love him anyways."

Midori couldn't help but laugh at her words.

Naminé appeared on the brown-eyed girl's other side and said, "Can I ask you a question Midori? It might be a little personal…"

"Go ahead."

"Since you only have half a heart, can you feel? I mean…well…"

"I understand," Midori said quickly. "You're a Nobody, and you had the experience of being without any feelings."

"No, it's not that," Naminé said while shaking her head quickly. "It's the fact that, looking back, I think I could actually feel, but only strong emotions. I didn't understand what I was feeling inside, and I knew that Nobodies couldn't feel, so I just let it go."

"You think you were a Half-Heart, like me," Midori said with a frown.

"No, not half, but rather a quarter or something," Naminé said. "It would explain how I could feel."

"I can feel, but not as easily as I used to. I can still feel all the strong emotions, and some smaller ones but, well, for instance I don't get as angry as I used to. I had a terrible temper problem before this happened."

"We're going to have fun with that then," Kairi said with a laugh.

"Stitch likes fun."

"Huh?" all three girls said and looked around. It was Kairi who saw the tiny, blue alien first and that was only because he was hiding behind the translucent Naminé.

Her eyes widened with alarm as she stared at him and then said, "Oh my…you're…"

"Stitch is?" the blue alien asked curiously while tilting his head.

"So cute and fluffy!" Kairi cried out as she hugged him.

"Stitch likes you," Stitch said after a moment.

"Wait until Sora sees you, he's going to be amazed."

"You know friend Sora? With big spiky hair?" Stitch asked. "And loud duck and funny dog?"

"Donald and Goofy? Yes, you met them?" Kairi asked.

"I fight with them," Sitch said and he moved one of his hands, causing a flash of light to appear and when it faded away a Keyblade that was four times the size of it's body.

"You're a Keybearer!" Midori cried out. "That's amazing."

"Yeah, Stitch fought off these guys in black," a young girl's voice said suddenly. "He saved me from the strange monsters!"

They turned to see a small girl with big brown eyes and long black hair staring at them with a rather happy look on her face.

Her eyes landed on Naminé and she gasped then yelled, "COOL! Are you really a ghost? Wow, I always wanted to meet one!"

"Umm…" Naminé said slowly. "Not exactly. I'm just a visible other half of her." She pointed to Kairi.

There was a long pause until the girl yelled, "That's even cooler!"

"This Lilo," Stitch said suddenly. "Lilo is Stitch's Ohana."

"Isn't this world called Ohana?" Midori whispered.

"Yeah but—OH WOW! A giant mouse, duck and dog!" Lilo yelled as Mickey appeared on the beach, followed by Donald and Goofy.

Stitch laughed and said, "Stupid duck."

"What? You!" Donald yelled while waving his arms around. "You mess up the computer in Hallow Bastion!"

"Naga, you did."

A few minutes later a laughing Riku and Sora appeared. Neither of them noticed the crowed on the beach until Sora was knocked to the ground by a flying, blue fuzzball.

"Friend Sora!" Stitch cried out happily as he licked Sora's face.

Sora started laugh and said, "Hello Stitch, long time no see. Is this your home?"

Stitch nodded and jumped off of Sora. He pointed to Lilo again and said, "This Lilo, Stitch's Ohana."

"Hello Lilo," Sora said as the little girl eagerly shook his hand. "It's been awhile since I've seen a kid in good condition."

"These big meanies tried to take me away," Lilo said loudly. "But Stitch used his giant key and beat them up! They left pretty fast."

"Giant—you have a Keyblade Stitch?" Sora asked as he summoned his. Lilo let out another happy yell at all the strangeness that was surrounding her at the moment.

Stitch called his again and waved it around haphazardly. He smiled widely and said, "Stitch make bad guys go away."

"That's good," Sora said with a big smile. "Finally, a world that's safe."

"Bad things happening?" Stitch asked as he jumped on top of Sora's head, pushing down the spikes and watching them pop back up with amusement.

"Very bad things," Riku said. "But we'll stop it."

"Do you all have funny weapons like that?" Lilo asked with wide eyes.

"We don't," Donald said, motioning to Goofy and himself. "But we have different weapons."

"Wow," her eyes got even bigger if that was possible.

Sora moved and sat down beside Kairi in the spot that Midori had vacated. He took in a deep breath, closing his eyes and laying back on the ground.

"Just like home?" Kairi questioned with a smirk, even though she knew the answer already.

"Just like home," Sora said and grinned as she curled up against him.

"Don't even think about leaving me here until after this is over though," Kairi warned him.

"Wouldn't dream of it."

"So you're all one big Ohana," Lilo said happily as she watched them curiously.

"What's an Ohana?" Sora asked while opening his eyes and looking up at her.

"Ohana means family," Lily said seriously. "And family means no one gets left behind."

Those words seemed to strike something deep within Sora. His eyes gazed at each of his friends in turn as he thought, _'No one will get left behind…I swear it…'_

"Yeah," he answered. "Yeah, we are all one big Ohana."

**VVVVVVVVVVV**

**Author's Note**

Again with the useless chapter! I have a few of these because the movies are my favorites and amuse me. Also good news for Sora! A place that didn't get destroyed! Just when he was giving up hope.

OK, I have a fair warning for the next chapter. It kind of reminds me of my Lion King chapter in it's uselssness, so I'm sorry for that and I'll forgive not getting 3 reviews for that chapter! Why did I write it then? Because IT WAS STUCK IN MY HEAD!! I couldn't not write it!!

Anyways, back to this chapter!

Since my dear cousin Holly decided it'd be fun to take a run around my computer when I wasn't in the room -.-' AND since she decided to point it out in her review for all the world to see **1)** I technically finished writing this story already and **2)** Yes, there is a sequel being written.

Now, onto the reviews!!

The Key of Hope – I completely agree! In fact, ALL writing is spur of the moment ideas, and that's why I keep a little notebook on me at all times in case I get an idea for either fanfiction or a real story, so I won't forget it. The answer to your question is above. Lol, I love writing too much to just stop now! It's my hobby and makes me who I am!

Iaveina – Glad you liked the fluffy-ness of the chapter and the part with Midori beating Riku just amused me too because I could SEE it in my mind as I wrote it! (**Shudders**) I'm not particularly afraid of clowns, but clown CREEPY CLOWN MUSIC terrifies me! It's one of my irrational fears…that and vampires (but I still read and watch vampire things…odd huh?). And yes, that was the song! It's my favorite song of all time!

Pure-Rose-Kunoichi – Aww thank you, but I've read some pretty good ones recently too. I really appriciate the positive feedback! D

DAN88 – lol you could have just said 'The Last Night' was the song, because it was! Zoning out is fun! I do it all the time! In fact we took personality tests at school and there were little pieces of advice for each group and mine was 'Stop daydreaming'. Yes, Riku is emo…except for when he's blushing! Lol!

RockCityRoadStar – Ye-ee-ep! That's the song! I love it to no end! Picked out a few? At first I tried to make every chapter have the title of a song, but I got stuck on a few and said 'aw screw it'. The thought of driving stops me from driving, yeah! Actually I'm kinda lazy and I don't LIKE driving…I'd rather have everyone else do it for me! AHH CREEP CLOWN MUSIC!! Yes, yes you were! I swear I have a magical purse! I can fit more things in there than humanly possible (for instance I went around with my DS, two GBAs, 2 camera, a video camera, 2 iPods, 2 cellphones, my wallet, a brush, all the cables for all the above things, and some snacks once! Oh! And my laptop! Don't ask why I had all that junk…) What did you say? I wasn't ignoring you…lol. Actually that's not a 7 year old response! A 7 year old would be like 'Mommy, what are those kids doing and can I do it too?). It'd be a 12 year old, who still has childish thinking, but because of Health class is learning about that stuff that would go EW!

Holly Skyla Hart – You are a complete bag of douche! I hope you know that! I wasn't going to tell everyone about the sequel but no-oo-oo-oo you had to invade my personal bubble and snoop around my laptop! OK I'm done! And yes, I did roll my eyes as I read that. Review again! Lol

So thank you to all of my reviewers! No joke, you guys are the best!

_**Krystal Lily Potter**_


	29. For a Moment

**Shadows of a Dream**

_**Chapter Twenty-Eight – For a Moment**_

"You should have worn sunscreen."

"I don't at home and this usually doesn't happen!"

Sora couldn't help but grin with amusement at his girlfriend. Her shoulders were bright red compared to the rest of her pale skin. Along the bridge of her nose as well as her back were also an angry red color.

"It's not funny," she snapped. "It hurts."

"Want a hug?"

"No! That'd make it worse!"

"As fun as it listening to you two tear into one another for once," Riku interrupted, sarcasm heavily evident in his voice. "We'll be coming up to the next world soon."

"Hmmm," Donald said suddenly. "This world has a familiar name. Well, this says it's a cooler world."

"There you go Kai," Sora said with a teasing grin. The girl just huffed as she folded her arms across her chest and shifted on his lap. Everyone had stuffed themselves into the bridge on the ship, but due to lacking of seats Sora and Kairi had to share one (not that they cared) and a rather embarrassed Riku and Midori were stuffed uncomfortably into the last chair.

As the ship slowly approached the world Kairi turned to face Sora. He tilted his head curiously as she reached forward and tugged his vest off of him.

"Guys! Not here!' Midori called out to them as Riku laughed.

Kairi glared at her as she put the long, dark fabric on her arms, efficiently hiding the sunburn on her shoulders from anything that might irritate it. The boy she was sitting on just rolled his eyes at her actions, not bothered in the least.

"Wow, look at it," Goofy said. "It might be cool, but it sure doesn't look too safe."

Sora peered over Kairi's shoulder and out the front window curiously. Like The Forbidden World and Flaming Waters, this place looked rather abandoned. What caught everyone's attention though was the asteroid belt that floated around the world. Every once and a while one of the rocks would shoot out random, either hitting the planet or flying off into space (the latter more than the former).

"Meteor's Strike," Midori said.

Mickey suddenly let out a gasp as he yanked at the controls, but he reacted a second too late.

The ship jerked roughly as one of the asteroids flew out quickly and slammed into the side of the ship, causing Mickey, Donald and Goofy to wince as the seatbelts dug into them. They were the fortunate ones though. Because the others were sharing seats the belts wouldn't strap them in (not even Sora and Kairi, who were both fairly skinny). As the gummi ship jerked again Midori tumbled out of the seat and onto the white floor. Riku jumped out of the seat and grabbed her arm, only to be flung into the wall roughly.

Sora gripped Kairi tightly as they both flew out and slammed into the wall. Kairi let out a small scream as they both heard a cracking sound, causing Sora to grab her tighter.

"What's that?" Goofy yelled out as they started falling towards the world below them.

Everyone looked up and saw that, in the process of getting hit, they ended up tumbling off course and were heading to a warp hole, something Sora was familiar with from his first adventure. However, this one looked more menacing than any of the other ones had.

"Hold on!" Mickey yelled as they got sucked into it roughly, and everything went black.

**VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV**

Laughter escaped her lips as she swam happily, staring up at the sky above her. For the first time in a long time a grin was on her face and she felt as if she belonged where she was.

Even though she was enjoying herself immensely, she wasn't distracted enough to notice what looked like a tear in the sky appearing. She stopped swimming, pushing her raven black hair out of her ocean blue eyes as she watched a group of people falling out of the sky and into the water.

A gasp escaped her lips as she lunged forward, or tried to. A small growl escaped her lips when she failed in moving how she wanted to, but after a moment she figured out what to do. Quickly she dived under the water to see if those that fell in were alright, and to hopefully get them back to the surface before they drowned.

**VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV**

Sora groaned as he slowly opened his eyes blinking at the dimmed sun above the blue world he was in. He twisted around and opened his eyes again to find…more blue?

Jerked up he realized, looking around, that he was in the water. Not only that, but he could breath in the water.

After clearing his head some he looked down and sure enough there was a familiar blue fin where his legs should have been.

He quickly did a loop in the water and looked around at everyone else, or everyone else that was there. Kairi, Mickey and Goofy were all suspended in the water, unconscious. A blush appeared on Sora's face as he glanced at Kairi, who had a pink fin like his and white shells covering her chest. In his mind she looked gorgeous, but he knew he shouldn't be thinking like that now. He hurried over to her and shook her gently.

Kairi groaned and slowly opened her eyes, staring at him until she realized that she was under water. She screamed and clutched him tightly, then realized that she was breathing. Her confused mind took that in slowly, and then she realized that Sora didn't have a shirt on. Her confusion spread to her face as she attempted to back away from him but found that moving wasn't that easy. That's when she noticed their legs and screamed again, waking up Goofy and Mickey in the process.

"Calm down Kairi," Sora said with a laugh. "It's alright."

She turned to look at the other two with them and couldn't help but laugh at the sight of Goofy as a turtle and Mickey has a tiny shark. She tried to move again, but ended up doing some time of weird cartwheel.

Sora laughed and swam around her quickly and rather elegantly (especially compared to her). With a grin he said, "Come on, it's not that hard. I'll show you how to do it."

"Wow? Where did you get those fins? I saw you fall in the water and you had legs!" a young girl's voice called out.

Sora whirled around and saw a girl around the age of 12 staring at him with wide blue eyes. Her black hair moved around her as she awkwardly moved her red fin and played with her long yellow shirt.

He blinked at her and said, "You really look like someone I know."

She scrunched up her face and said, "I doubt it. Everyone says I look like my mother, but she doesn't like any association with the ocean or other places."

"Hey," Kairi said suddenly and Sora helped her forward. "You said you saw us fall from the sky, right? Were there any others?"

"I thought I saw three shooting stars head that way, I think it's that way at least," the girl said while pointing in a random direction. "So who are you? How come you and the turtle are the only ones who seem to know how to swim? Come to think of it, why are you with things that look like half turtle-half dog and half shark-half mouse?"

"Because they are?" Sora answered in a questioning voice. "If I'm right we'll be looking for two other merpeople and a creature that's half duck-half octopus. Oh, and I can swim because I've been here before but she hasn't."

"You didn't tell me who you all are yet."

"I'm Kairi," she interrupted. "This is Sora. That's Goofy and that's Mickey."

"I'm Melody," the girl replied finally as she started swimming around them.

"You look like you're new to swimming too," Sora joked.

She pouted and then said, "I sort of am. I've been swimming in the sea in secret since I was young, but mother hates it. I don't understand why. This is the first time I've swam with fins though."

"Well, I'm going to teach Kairi to swim, so I guess I can give you some pointers as well if you want."

"Umm, I want to figure this out on my own," Melody said while flashing him a smile. "But if I need help I'll call, ok?"

Sora couldn't help but laugh at the spunky young girl as she swam away, but not too far. She apparently grew up on the land, but if that was true then why did she remind him so much of Ariel?

**VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV**

Riku's eyes snapped open as Midori let out a scream. He tried to push himself up, but found that impossible since there was nothing under him but water.

"What did you do Donald?" Midori's sudden shrill voice yelled. "I'm a fish!"

"Actually you're a mermaid," Donald replied.

Riku managed to move and couldn't help but gawk at the silver fin that was in the place of where his legs used to be. He glanced over at Midori and saw that she had a deep purple fin with dark red shells on her chest and she did not look happy.

Donald seemed to be chuckling to himself but that stopped and he said, "Hey, where are the others?"

No one really knew what to say, and since Donald didn't know exactly how merpeople swam he couldn't give Riku or Midori any tips. Swimming was one of the things Sora caught on to quickly. Unfortunately for the two of them, when they had been in Atlantica before, Ariel was on land and they didn't get the chance to swim.

Suddenly they heard humming coming from their right. They all turned to look in that direction when a woman, a mermaid actually, with a green fin and long, bright red hair emerged from the darkness.

Donald blinked for a moment before calling out, "Ariel!"

She stopped swimming and turned to look at them curiously. There was something different about her, Donald noticed. She looked a little older than the last time he had seen her, which wasn't that long ago (a few months) when she had been given her Keyblade. Her face also had a more serious look to it.

Ariel blinked in shock and said slowly, "Donald? Riku? Midori? What are you doing here? How are you here?"

"What? We just saw you a few months ago," Midori said, confusion obvious on her face.

Ariel slowly shook her head and said, "I haven't seen any of you since the incident with the Keyblades."

"Which was a few months ago."

"No, that was about thirteen years ago."

"Thirteen years?" Riku asked in a quiet tone. "Thirteen years ago? That means…that warp hole!"

"It took us to the future!" Midori cried out, catching onto what Riku was saying.

**VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV**

Kairi had finally got the hang of swimming, and Mickey seemed to be a natural at it in his small shark form.

She had noticed that Melody was partially out of the water and decided to follow suit. She took in a deep breath of actual air as she splashed and couldn't help but stare at the ice around them in awe. Sora appeared by her side a moment later, and he too gawked at the landscape around them.

**VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV**

Ariel, deciding that talking about time travel in the middle of the ocean where anyone could hear was a bad idea, led them back to the only place she could think of that would be safe: her old grotto.

After some swimming lessons they made their way to her place, and Midori could help but swim around, staring at all the objects with fascination. She wasn't the only one though.

Ariel too looked around, as if not believing she was really there.

"I haven't been in the sea for twelve years," Ariel said suddenly. "A sea-witch, Morgana, threatening my daughter Melody. So we kept her away from the ocean ever since. I do know that there are no Endless, Heartless, Nobodies or anything else like that here."

"Weren't you born a mermaid though?" Riku asked. "Wouldn't that be difficult for you? Staying away from the sea?"

"It was," she agreed. "And I probably wouldn't be here now, but Melody is missing and I'm searching for her. She was always fascinated with the sea."

As she was speaking a sad frown appeared on her face as she looked up at the opening at the top of the grotto and then back at the stone that made the floor of the grotto.

**VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV**

Sora, who had been floating on his back, let the bottom half of his body sink as he heard Melody start humming to herself. She was twirling around in the water, and the way the setting sun hit her hair, giving it an almost red tint, reminded him so much of Ariel. He was nearly positive that they had to be related.

Kairi leaned her head on his shoulder and Mickey and Goofy stayed quiet, watching Melody swim back and fourth while singing to herself.

"Okay, get a grip, get a hang of this flipper

It's like slipping two feet into one big huge slipper

This way is left, which way is right

Well, now I'll be circling in circles all night."

"Okay, so this is forward. No problem," she said happily then kept singing.

"I can't believe I can do this and more

To swim in the sea like I walk on the shore

Out of my shell, not closed up like a clam

Come see, this is me, here I am."

"For a moment all of me

Is alive and at home in the sea

I'm swirling and twirling, so graceful and grand

Not stubbing my toes getting stuck in the sand."

"For a moment life is cool

I'm a splash in the world's biggest pool

This is more than my thoughts ever thought it could be

For a moment, just a moment, lucky me."

**VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV**

Ariel swam the bottom of her grotto and picked up the old pipe that she had found so many years before. She gazed at it with an odd look before she started humming to herself again. Sora had mentioned how merpeople were extremely attracted to music, so Riku wasn't very surprised when the woman started singing to herself.

"If only for one moment

I had shared with you all I know

The sea wouldn't be a mystery

Oh why did you have to go?"

**VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV**

Melody seemed to have realized that they were listening to her, but she didn't seem to mind. Instead she swam around them happily while singing and playing with the baby walruses that were there.

"Everything's newer, brighter and bluer

And truer to life than before

Watch me soar."

"For a moment I can shine

Got a grin and a fin, it works fine

My fingers are wrinkly, I really don't care

If all my curls have curled out of my hair."

"For a moment I can feel

All the dreams I've been dreaming are real

Wish my mother could hear it, the sea is my song

For a moment, just a moment, I belong."

**VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV**

Ariel seemed to hold something that wasn't there to her chest as she swam up high in her old grotto, a sad expression on her face.

"I will find you my darling

And the moment that I do

I'll hold you close, my Melody

And sing the song of the sea with you."

"And sing the song of the sea with you."

**VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV**

"For a moment, just a moment, I belong."

"She has an amazing voice," Kairi whispered.

"Yur right Sora," Goofy said suddenly, referring to a comment Sora had made earlier. "She does remind me of Ariel."

The young girl stopped swimming and spun around to look at them.

"Do you know her?" Sora asked. "Ariel? She's only a few years older than me with red hair and—"

"I know her, but she's more than a few years older than you," Melody said. "A lot older actually."

"No she's not," Sora said with a laugh. "She's a year, maybe two older than Kairi and I. At least the last time I saw her she was."

"No, she's not," Melody argued. "I should know. She and Eric are my parents."

**VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV**

**Author's Note**

Again, kind of useless and random, but at the same time I thought it out carefully went I wrote it.

This was actually the second version of chapter 28 that I wrote, the original having taken place in a completely different world. However, I heard the song For a Moment and it would NOT get out of my head, no matter how many times I tried watching other movies to kick it out. So since I was not happy with my original Chapter 28 I decided to bump them to the future so I could write this chapter.

I thought all of the details out though, and there is a purpose written between the lines here. It should be obvious, so I hope some of you pick out what I'm getting at! Consider it as useless a challenge as guess which song the last chapter was named after.

Now onto the reviews!

Holly Skyla Hart – Who says that I was thinking anything worse? …ok forget that because anyone who knows me knows that I was. I don't care if it was open! There was no sign that said ' HOLLY PLEASE LOOK AT THIS STUFF I HAVE HERE' Yes, I know you love Stitch. I do too. And Yes, I have a lot of stuffed animals hanging out on my top bunk…but that's ok cause I don't use it anyways. Come to think of it I have A LOT of Disney stuff around my room. LOL I'm such a big kid…

Iaveina – Yes, yes Midori was evil to Sora. No I have no read the Twilight series. My younger sister has though. She loves them, but one of my friends (who usually likes those books and not the more…advanced books that I like reading) said that they were written like a poor fanfic so I'm a little hesitant to steal my sister's books and read them myself…but if other people like the book then that's ok. Still…vampires (shudders). That and Iris are my favorite songs of all time!

DAN88 – (shrugs) Yeah, I guess they're on Kauai, but it's not because I didn't know they were on the Hawaiian Islands, I just decided to keep it in spirit of the games by naming it something else. Like how China is actually Land of the Dragons (but is still called China at points of time to confuse us all) and how a world is called 'Olympus Coliseum' even though the second game proved that there's more to that world so it should probably be called Greece.

RockCityRoadStar - …wow huge review of doom! Lmao glad that Hol and I amuse someone. Meh, maybe it's just around here and the places I've visited that the 7-year-olds are happily oblivious to the world around them, thinking that a stroke brought them home. LOL you have magic pants like Sora! Just add some funny colored belts hanging out everywhere and vola! People will stare at you and be like …wtf…I don't WANT to know about the harmonica! I never felt the huge urge to read Twilight since my friend who usually likes those type of books said it was overrated and once again, ew, vampires. Although I suppose my irrational fears are better than my friend's who is afraid of ghosts, spiders and the island in our river called "Middle Island" where the lepers were buried and she thinks it haunted (she won't even go near it without freaking!). God forbid she sees a ghost spider from Middle Island! …god forbid I meat a vampire that sings creepy clown music!! No, actually the title wasn't in refered to Now or Never by Madina Lake, but now I shall go to youtube and listen to the song. I was referring to Everything Burns by Anastacia and Ben Moody. Television is badddd for you! (is ignoring the fact that I watches movies every night)

Kanie – ewww I did that once! Actually it was an accident. Ok that's a lie, I'm just trying to make myself feel better. But it was an overnight shift at work (which I have to work tomorrow and Saturday too) and we were so tired so we mixed coke with packs of sugar. I mixed too much sugar into it so I gave it to one of my friends. Bad idea. We were all hyper as hell but when 6 in the morning came around we were all SO tired and burnt right out from our sugar highs…anyways, I agree, gross!

LOL, I'm really enjoying the fact that most reviews have very little to do with the story!

XD

Seriosuly though, no complains coming from me.

Well review if you want to and I hope this song got stuck in someone's head! Lol! Next chapter will be better, promise.

Why? Because they're not going back to Meteor's Strike (10 cookies to the person who can remember when it was mentioned before!). So count em off. Forbidden World, Flaming Waters, Ohana, Meteror's Strike and I said there would be five so…

Lol I think everyone can do the math!

_**Krystal Lily Potter**_


	30. Gate of Crystals

**Shadows of a Dream**

_**Chapter Twenty-Nine – Gate of Crystals**_

_One step, two steps, stop. Rush forward behind a large boulder. Stop again. Wait for a moment. Try not to be seen. Go. Keep running. Take a deep breath. Nearly there. Keep running. Only a few more steps. A bright light. Hundreds of hearts._

_One second too late._

**VVVVVVVVVVV**

Sora's eyes snapped open, but he stayed still. Carefully he managed his breathing as to not wake the girl curled up to his side. He slowly slid his gaze to her and grinned warmly his hand running up and down her arm, not the least embarrassed by her close embrace.

His mind thought over what had occurred back in their rather random trip to Atlantica, or rather Atlantica in the future. Eventually the two groups had met up with one another, but Ariel told them that while their help would have been highly appreciated, they weren't supposed to interfere with other worlds, let alone other times!

They managed to find a warp point and got back onto the gummi ship. It took about a week to repair it and once it was done they ended up getting sucked into what they assumed was the same warp hole, because after contacting Disney Castle they discovered that they were in the right time again.

It had been an odd experience, needless to say, but Sora was positive that it happened for a reason. After thinking about it he couldn't help but grin a bit. He'd bet anything that it was a Metaphor of Destiny's doing. She probably conviently put the warp hole there and knocked them into it. Why? Because he was slowly but surly giving up hope, and seeing the future that was free of all enemies was enough to make him forget about giving up.

Now Sora savored the quiet atmosphere. He continued to stare at Kairi for a moment before closing his eyes again and diving into the deep depths of his own mind…

**VVVVVVVVVVV**

Roxas sat at the edge of the stained glass platform when Sora appeared. He gazed at his Nobody, who in turn stared out into the oblivion with a rather intense stare.

"You know," Roxas said suddenly. "I've always wondered why I wielded Oblivion and Oathkeeper together. What do they have in common aside from the letter O? Do they really represent the true balance of light and dark? Or do they really represent Riku and Kairi to you and Axel and Naminé to me?"

"What?" Sora asked curiously as he sat down beside Roxas.

"I don't know, I'm just muttering to myself," the blond said after a moment. "I've just been thinking a lot recently."

"Not much to do but think lately," the brunette agreed. "Jumping from world to world so quickly. Then that little trip forward in time. That could have been disastrous."

"What do you think it is Sora?" Roxas asked suddenly, ignoring his earlier comment. "The power that everyone is after? Or why do you think there are suddenly so many keybearers, but they all seem to be rather useless? I don't think so many Keyblades would just randomly show up unless there was a reason."

"I don't know," Sora admitted. "For either question. I can't even imagine what the power is. The way the Half-Hearts are after it, you'd think that it was a powerful darkness that they could use, but at the same time Twilight's Destiny was a good city at one point of time, so that implies that it was light."

"Well," Roxas said slowly. "Maybe it's both. It is called Twilight's Destiny. You know, not dark but not light either."

"That would imply nothingness," Sora said. "Wouldn't it? How can such a strong power be nothing? Unless that's the hint and we're all on a wild goose chase."

"Of course we are. You pretty much know that."

"And the other Keybearers? Maybe there's something else coming," a bitter tone laced Sora's voice. "Maybe we'll never get the chance to live in peace."

"Or maybe this is so we can have at least a little time in peace."

"I don't think destiny's that kind."

The two nearly identical boys continued to look out over the platform at what used to be only darkness. Now though they could see many different stain-glass platforms. There was the Three-Hearts platform, and all seven princesses of heart (Sora's eyes lingered on Kairis affectionately, like they usually did when he dived into his mind). Now there was also one of Naminé, Mickey, Riku, Midori, Donald, Goofy and anyone else who had a Keyblade (the exception being Donald and Goofy). It was a strange sight.

Sora stood up again and walked to the center of the platform and held out his hand. Ultima appeared in it. Roxas turned at the flash of light and found his Other staring at the blade thoughtfully.

"What?"

"I'm just continuing your thoughts from earlier. Do you ever think that, even though I have a lot of keychains, that we were destined for certain ones? Like Simba got Circle of Life, and Riku's always had Way to Dawn. Kairi was given True Heart, but she hated it with a passion. She loves having Oathkeeper though."

"Maybe," Roxas said with a shrug. "It's odd though, considering I got Oblivion and Oathkeeper. That leads back to what I was saying earlier. We're both duel wielders, so maybe if we had Keyblades that matched one another they would be stronger instead of just throwing Ultima and Oblivion together."

"Maybe," Sora said, mimicking Roxas' previous motion. "We'll find out sometime though."

"There's so much we don't know about the Keyblades yet," Roxas said. "So much about the darkness and the light that we can't comprehend, and you're the Keyblade Master."

"No Roxas, we're the Masters," Sora said with a grin. "Remember, you may be me, but you're you too." It was a confusing statement but Roxas understood.

The blond gave his other a goofy grin and said, "Thanks bro."

"No problem."

"You should go back, I think Kairi's waking up."

"Yeah, see ya later Roxas," Sora said and with a flash of light he was gone.

Roxas stared at the spot where his other had been. He stayed still as he felt Sora wake up before moving back to the ledge of the platform. He looked down at the one of himself oddly; it was what he had been staring at before, along with Naminé's.

The image of Naminé was holding a Keyblade that resembled the design of Oathkeeper slightly, but was purple tinted and had a silver chain making up the part that signified the key, wrapping around the double blades and around the heart shaped hilt. He had never once seen that Keyblade before.

The one that got him really thinking though were the Keyblades with him. In one hand, the one that was visible, was Oblivion. However, in the other hand was a golden Keyblade. One that was identical to Oblivion.

**VVVVVVVVVVV**

"Get up you lazy bum," Kairi said with a laugh as she attempted to shove Sora off of her, but to no avail. His grip was too strong when he wanted it to be.

"No," he mumbled. "Getting up means having to fight and I'd rather just stay here."

She sighed and frowned at his words. When he said things like that it made her heart ache and wish that she could allow him to lay there without a care in the world, but she knew she couldn't.

'_Someday,'_ she thought.

'_Someday all of us will have a chance at peace,'_ Naminé agreed.

Kairi kissed his nose, causing him to open his eyes and stare at her oddly as she giggled. He tilted his head before sighing and letting go of her, rolling himself purposely off the bed and onto the floor with a thump.

Kairi rolled over to the edge and laughed down at him as he said, "There, I'm out of bed."

**VVVVVVVVVVV**

Midori hummed to herself as she walked down the hall of the gummi ship. Where she was a terrible singer as both a person and a half-Nobody (that could have been her evil power, she decided) she did enjoy humming to herself at times. The tune that Ariel seemed to constantly sing to herself was catchy, and Midori had taken to humming it herself.

She heard laughter coming out of Sora's room as she neared it. Noticing that the door was open she peered inside and saw Sora tickling Kairi, who was desperately trying to wiggle out of his grasp. She saw Midori staring at them with an amused look and called out, "Help Midi!"

Midori started laughing and said, "I'd rather not, thanks." That's when Sora got an odd look on his face, once that made her slowly start backing away from him and into someone else.

"Get her Riku!" Sora cried out and suddenly Midori started laughing, tears coming to her eyes as Riku tickled her.

"Cut it out Silver!" she cried out, desperately trying to get away from him but it was no use.

That was how Goofy found the four of them later, except the girls had the boys pinned. The cheerful dog didn't want to break up their fun but he knew he had to.

Unless the gate truly was at Meteor's Strike, which they had decided to skip, then this was it.

They were at the final world…the world with the gate to Twilight's Destiny.

**VVVVVVVVVVV**

Sora raised his arm up to block the sun out of his eyes as it shined brightly down on them. It wasn't that this was a hot planet, no its temperature was rather chilly, but not cold by far. It was just a really sunny place.

As far as the eye could see were mountains, gorges and rocks, lots and lots of rocks.

"It might not be hot," Midori said suddenly, as if reading his mind. "But you better watch out Kai, you might get another sunburn."

Kairi seemed to snarl at her but she knew it was true. Turning to face Sora she gave him that adorable pout that she knew he could never say no to.

Sora sighed and took of his vest, passing it to her and watching as she happily put it over her shoulders. She turned back to Midori and said, "Now my shoulders won't burn."

Riku's sniggering caught Sora's ears and he turned to face his amused friend. Riku caught his questioning stare and he said, "You are completely and utterly whipped my friend."

"What is this place called?" Goofy asked suddenly as he looked around, his timing perfect for interrupting the argument that had been about to break out.

"Crystal Shards," Mickey answered quickly.

"Why?" Midori asked. "I don't see any crystals."

Donald, the second he heard that there could be treasure here, bolted forward. He only ran a couple meters before he tripped and stumbled down a hill.

"Donald!" they all cried out and ran after him. Sora was the one who reached him first. Donald, however, ignored his friend, an awestruck look on his face as he gazed forward.

"Donald? Are you alright?" Sora asked as he waved his hand in front of his friend's face. When Donald didn't reply Sora turned to see what he was looking at and couldn't help but gasp.

The place was covered with gemstones of every shape, size and color!

Donald let out a loud whoop and rushed forward as he started looking at all the treasure.

"It's beautiful," Kairi whispered.

"There are your crystals Midi."

"Shut up Silver."

Everyone started milling around looking at all the different gemstones.

'_Holy chocolate chocobo!'_ Roxas cried out in Sora's mind. _'We could be rich like…forever with this loot.'_

'_Jack Sparrow would kill to be here,'_ Sora thought, briefly wondering if Elizabeth and Will had gotten him back from Davy Jones' locker yet. It had taken him what seemed like forever to get Riku to tell him the story of what happened there and it had traumatized him at first (the death of Jack Sparrow), but Riku assured him that the pirate would be back.

He started to dig around and noticed several smaller crystals that seemed to glow. He picked them up and shoved them in one of his pockets, thinking about the Gullwings. He still felt bad about tricking them into helping their side, but he knew those little treasures would make it up to them.

Sora jumped slightly when he felt someone grab his other pocket. He turned and saw Kairi grinning at him before she said, "Since you have magical pants I thought I'd just leave my stuff in your pocket too." His face turned bright red and she giggled before running off again.

He took in a deep breath and continued to dig through the stones, every once and awhile putting a few nice ones in his pocket, despite Roxas saying he should just take the lot of them.

"Wow," he whispered as he picked up a pink diamond. He moved it around in his hand and knew this heart-shaped object couldn't have been a normal diamond. It seemed to literally glow and when the sun hit it a rainbow of a thousand colors seemed to shine off of it. He glanced over at Kairi and then back at the stone, grinning as he tucked it away in his pocket. A few minutes later he found another similar stone, but this one was in the shape of a star and was pale blue. That one too found a new home in his magical, never-ending pockets.

"This place is amazing," Riku said suddenly as he appeared beside Sora. "I could find presents for my mother here for the rest of my life!"

Sora laughed and said, "I'm sure it's just your mother you're thinking of."

"Hmm?" Riku turned to face his friend and caught the knowing, almost wicked look on Sora's face as his blue eyes turned quickly to Midori and then back to Riku.

Riku, who prided himself on being sharper than Sora, quickly caught on and his cheeks turned an amusing shade of pink. Sora snickered to himself and picked up a few more stones.

"Fellas," Mickey called out suddenly. "I think we found it."

"What?" Sora said as he quickly shot up and ran over to where the King stood. He made an odd sound and soon everyone else was by his side and saw why.

In the valley below them were thousands upon thousands of Nobodies of all different shapes and sizes.

Roxas appeared beside Sora and said, "Look at that!" He was pointing towards a large crystallized archway that was in front of the Nobodies.

"This is it," Sora muttered. "Jesus, look at all of them."

"You took on a thousand Heartless before," Roxas pointed out. "And a thousand Nobodies."

"Yeah but I think there's too many here for that," Sora said, his worried eyes flickering to his Nobody before looking back.

"What do we do?" Kairi asked, grasping his hand tightly.

"Nothing," Mickey answered. "There's nothing we can do in this world right now. We need to try and radio Radiant Garden, just so they know where we are. Cid was working on several gummi ships the last time I checked, so we might be able to get some help to fight off all these Nobodies."

"So do we all go back to the gummi ship?" Midori asked.

"Donald, you come with me to the gummi ship," Mickey said. "Goofy, Riku, Midori, go to different places and stand guard, just in case. Sora, you and Kairi stay here to watch what's happening but stay hidden."

Everyone nodded and quickly went to their 'stations'.

**VVVVVVVVVVV**

'…_It's a small world after all! It's a small world after all! It's a—'_

"I am going to KILL you Roxas!" Sora yelled out suddenly, startling Kairi. "If you sing one more time…

'_I'm bored,'_ Roxas muttered in his head. _'There's not much fun in watching a bunch of Nobodies just stand around. Believe me, I'd know.'_

"Oh god," Kairi said suddenly. "Sora! Look!"

He jerked around and followed her terrified gaze. Through the last five minutes that neither of them had been watching the Half-Hearts had shown up and there were hundreds of children on the ground, none of them moving.

_'Oh god,'_ Naminé choked out from inside Kairi's mind as they watched in horror as bright, glowing, pink hearts started leaving their bodies and seemingly filling up the giant crystal arch.

The empty center of it started to ripple, as if made of water and then it brightly started to glow. Sora and Kairi both shielded their eyes but it wasn't needed for long as the light quickly dimmed.

Sora was the first to look back and gasped. Now, where there had been nothing before was an opening to a completely different world, with the Half-Hearts already moving into it, the large group of Nobodies following them.

He surveyed the scene and came to a quick decision. He knew she wouldn't agree with it at first, but it had to be done.

"Go get Riku and the others," he said to her while placing his hands on her shoulders so that she would look at him. "I'll follow them and, if worst comes to worst, try to distract them from the power. If they don't do anything I'll stay out of sight for now, I swear it."

"Sora I—"

He dragged her close to him and kissed her deeply. Sora moved his hand onto her cheek and wiped away the tears that were streaking down them. Slowly he backed away from her and opened his eyes to look at her.

Kairi kept her eyes closed but slowly opened them as Sora said, "Don't worry Iri, I'll be fine, I promise."

"I know you will," she said as she let go of his hand. She wiped away the rest of her tears before turning around and running back towards where the others were.

Sora turned around and started running towards the now opened gate, making sure that he was hidden behind the rocks.

**VVVVVVVVVVV**

**Author's Note**

Before anyone comments about me just leaving the last world without much of an explanation, I do have my reasons. Well, at least I do now. When I first wrote this I just wanted to get to the end of the story by this point of time before I got writer's block. Then, after writing the last few chapters, I looked back and wasn't sure what to do.

The future Little Mermaid thing is, looking back, important enough to have two chapters, but right now I don't really have the mind frame to go back and write the rest (trust me, I've tried) sooooo to all the loyal readers I'm going to make a promise! What's that, you ask? I'm going to write a 'Final Mix" of sorts with extra chapters for several of the worlds as well as some other things, BUT I'd like your help to do it.

Looking back over what's been written so far, I want you guys to tell me what you'd like there to be more of. For instance, I am definitely fixing up the Lion King and Little Mermaid chapters, but maybe someone would like a chapter of Midori before she met Riku, or more details about a certain thing I can't think of.

So tell me what you want to see and I'll get around to writing it, just not as quickly as all of this!

Now, on to the reviews!!

**The Key of Hope** – Sorry that I didn't continue with the future thing. See big explanation above (again if needed, lol) about why I didn't and if you have any suggestions throw them at me! You have no idea how much I'm grinning at your second comment though!

**DAN88** – Yeah it was a huge skip. Originally I made it 9 years but the number kept getting higher when I factored in…other things that will happen.

**RockCityRoadStar** – I had terrible nightmares about vampires when I was little and never shook off the fear. Meh, people have their irrational fears, so that one's mine! LMAO! Gremlins!! They're so cute when they're not all evil, and even then they're funny! …yes you definitely speciaL. So special in fact that you deserve a capital L, not a capital S. I wasn't making fun of your magical pants! I think it's cool! Oh and the belts, ebay or amazon! Don't worry, my squrriels are watching your every move too. They stare at you through your window and read your mind with their squirrelly-powers!

**Kanie** – lol still, I think sugar is the last think Coke needs. …Then again, the guy I worked with last night had about 10 cups of coffee…all with 5 cream and 10 packs of sugar in them. Then he tried to put strawberry sundae topping in it…NOT a good idea for future reference!

**Iavine** – I hate that thing to. I'm pretty sure I get it wrong sometimes but it still lets me in. I like Atlantica in the second game, once I figured out how to do the stupid musicals! Yeah, I'm slow, I know. Lmao I'm pretty sure Sora singing makes me laugh every time. Kairi has evil plans for Midori! Not really, but ya know…llol you usually seem to forget what you want to say! D Maybe you should write it down on a word document as you're reading or something…random is fun!

Well thank you to everyone and I'm sorry again for the HUGE jump in the plot but…yeah…like I said! Tell me what you'd like to see added onto this and I'll get around to it when I can!

_**Krystal Lily Potter**_


	31. Bleed It Out

**Shadows of a Dream**

_**Chapter Thirty-One – Bleed It Out**_

Maleficent's cool eyes looked down at the group below her. This was all too easy. The Half-Hearts had done all the work by gathering hearts of children and pure souls (the idiots never even realized that they never needed to actually take the souls and hearts out of anyone. They just needed several willing pure people to help them, souls and hearts in tact). Then the keybrat's group had led them all to where the power was, and now the wielders were either unconscious or frozen to the ground.

The witch was not a fool though. She could see the Keyblade Master crouching on the ledge across from her, but chose to ignore him for now. She also knew that the Half-Hearts and their group of Nobodies were not to be taking lightly. It was a good thing that she had such a large group of Heartless behind her.

Yes, everything was going according to her plan. She held one thing that ensured her safety in this place. She knew why the power wasn't going to the Nobodies and why the power wouldn't work for her either.

"Foolish Half-Hearts," she said, her voice echoing around the room. "You really thought it'd be so easy as to just walk into a castle and take what you want. No, this power is special."

"What do you know that we don't Maleficent?" Crysita snapped, taking a step towards the witch.

"That there are only specific people that can use the power," the witch said as she vanished from the ledge and appeared in front of the Nobodies in a flash of green fire. "And I happen to know where the last remaining person that can use this is."

"Tell us."

"Why would I do that you foolish girl?"

"We'll make you," Carverin growled and the Nobodies started advancing on the witch. She waved her staff and the Heartless appeared.

As the two groups started fighting one another, Sora had made his way around the ledge before jumping down in front of his friends. With quick fire and then cure spells everyone was up again.

"What do we do?" Kairi asked as she hugged Sora. "We can't use that."

"Can we destroy it?" Midori mumbled. Despite having been cured her head still hurt.

"And unleash that much power?" Riku asked while raising an eyebrow. He caught her by her shoulders as she stumbled and the brown-eyed girl smiled thankfully at him.

"Remember what happened with the fake Kingdom Hearts the Organization made?" Goofy asked.

"Yeah, that had a lot of power behind it, but it was fake, so imagine what the real thing could do?"

"Who can control it?" Kairi asked. "Finding them and hoping that he or she is on our side is all that we can do."

"How do you propose we get out of here to find it?" Midori growled. "The Nobodies, and now the Heartless, are everywhere. We'll be killed before we get out. And even if we did get out, then what? We start flying around the universe trying to find one person that we know nothing about?"

"Destiny's Island," Sora said suddenly. "Or Twilight Town. But both those places are gone now."

"What?" everyone but Mickey echoed with confusion.

Sora's eyes locked with the mouse-King as Mickey said, "That's right. The person to open this would have been in one of those places."

"Why?" Donald asked.

"Twilight's Destiny," Sora said with an almost bitter tone. "Was bigger before it fell."

Mickey nodded and said, "This place was once made up of the castle, which is still here, some other places like forests and mountains, but the most important parts were a large city and an island district. Everything else was destroyed except for the castle that's still here, and the city, which was always known as Twilight Town, became it's own world. The same with Destiny Islands."

"Twilight's Destiny," Kairi whispered. "Destiny Islands, Twilight Town, it all makes sense."

"What if it's one of you three?" Goofy said suddenly. "All three of you are from there."

"Kairi's not," Riku pointed out. "She was born in Radiant Garden."

"Destiny Islands and Twilight Town?" Kairi said again before grasping the front of Sora's shirt, forcing him to look at her. "You Sora, it's referring to you."

"Why Sora?" Midori asked.

"Roxas," Riku said suddenly, understanding. "Roxas appeared in Twilight Town when he was created and that was the world he felt most welcome. Sora calls Destiny Islands home and Roxas calls Twilight Town home."

"It's true," Mickey said suddenly, causing all eyes to shift to him. He looked at the ground and said. "I'm sorry I never told you Sora. I knew that you were the one to use those powers from the beginning."

Sora looked at the ground and said, "I don't understand. I thought—I knew that technically I would be using the powers but isn't he—?"

"Isn't who what?"

Sora hesitated and Riku said, "We need to get over to that thing now to see if we're right about Sora. You can discuss all your insecurities later."

"How do we get through that?" Kairi asked, pointing to the fighting Nobodies and Heartless. While both groups were ignoring them for now they all knew that if they strayed into the fray that both groups would attack them.

Way to Dawn, Twilight and Darkside Keyblades all appeared in their respective owner's hands. The Save the Queen staff appeared in Donald's hand and the Save the King shield appeared in Goofy's.

"We clear the way while you and Sora get over there as fast as possible," Riku said. "Kairi, stay with him in case something happens and he passes out."

Kairi nodded, a serious look on her face as she summoned Oathkeeper into her right hand and took Sora's hand tightly in her left. He stared at her for a moment before nodding and summoning the Ultima blade.

**VVVVVVVVVVV**

Maleficent raised her staff and a circle of green fire appeared around Carverin. A loud yell escaped his lips as the fire rendered his power useless. It didn't matter that ice turned into water when melted (which, in reality, should have put out the fire) as these were magical flames. He turned back and saw Crysita staring at him blankly. He tried calling out to her to help him, but she just continued to stare. That's when he knew.

Crysita never had any plans of getting anyone else the rest of their hearts back. She had made it clear that she despised Organization XIII, but he now saw it was the thought of a team she despised. She was using them all of them.

As he fell to the ground he couldn't believe how stupid all of them had been. And as his life left him he hoped that the Keyblade Master put an end to that wicked woman once and for all.

Who he was referring to, Maleficent for ending his life, or Crysita for manipulating it? No one would ever know.

Riku slashed at the Heartless and Nobodies that jumped at them as the entered the fight. He moved quickly, forcing himself to ignore the exhaustion that was slowly overtaking him. A loud clang from behind him caused him to spin around, only to see Midori fighting off a large Nobody that had snuck up behind him.

She grunted, still sore from her terrible fight with her other half earlier. Midori's confidence in her fighting skills had also taken a sharp blow earlier. She had always assumed that, because she was the half that retained light instead of darkness, that she would be the stronger of the two, but that proved to be an incorrect thought.

Midori heard Kairi scream slightly and fought on harder. She might not be stronger than Crysita, but she had no doubt that, if they were right, and the power was Sora's to use, that he would end her miserable existence once and for all.

Donald ran between the legs of a tall Heartless before waving around his staff and striking several creatures at once with his powerful lightning magic. He snickered as the creatures vanished and kept fighting.

Goofy smashed through a group of Heartless with his shield. As much as he didn't like violence he knew there was a reason to fight and he would do the best he could. He spun around and ended up slamming into Lilanti, who stumbled and fell into a group of shadows.

King Mickey flipped over a group of Nobodies and ended up face to face with Jorix. The young man turned to face the king and attempted to attack him, but Mickey's small form proved to be too fast for the Half-Heart. With a huge slash of the Darkside Keyblade Jorix flew backwards, crashing into a group of Dusks.

Kairi kept her grip on Sora's hand tight. She would be damned if one of these creatures would tear them apart. They slashed their way through the waves of creatures in record-breaking time.

They reached the center of the room and ran into Crysita and Maleficent, who were fighting one another over a power that belonged to neither. Maleficent's cold yet knowing stare fell upon the two of them as she managed to knock Crysita out of the way. The witch took a step towards them and said, "Princess, it's been so long."

"You keep away from her," Sora hissed as he pointed Ultima at Maleficent. "I swear, if you touch her I won't hesitate to beat you into a non-existent pulp."

"My, my, such anger for one who was quite the pathetic Heartless, or so I heard. Perhaps it comes from your Nobody? I heard he was no good."

"One Roxas is worth a thousand of you," Sora snapped. "And don't you forget it witch."

"Get away from him!" Kairi screamed suddenly as she slammed her Keyblade to stop a crystallized staff from hitting Sora. She glared at Crysita as she forced the Half-Heart to take a step backwards.

This distracted Sora long enough for Maleficent to wave her staff and shoot flames at him. He flew backwards and landed beside the floating heart, but paid no mind to it. All that mattered now as getting Kairi away from the two evil women.

But Crysita wasn't fighting her anymore.

The purple-haired woman was staring at the heart with a look of shock. Sora ignored her look and rushed back towards the fight. As he neared them, and moved farther away from the power, the glow that had overtaken the diamond heart started to fade.

"Just as I thought," Maleficent muttered.

Crysita twisted around and waved an arm. What happened next no one expected. Several of the smaller Nobodies seemed to warp together into a large creature that slammed into Maleficent, hiding her from view. In a quick moving Crysita turned around and grasped tightly onto Kairi slamming her staff onto the Princess's hand. A loud crack was heard as Oathkeeper fell to the ground and Kairi screamed in pain.

"Kairi!" Sora yelled but stopped running as Crysita grabbed the girl tightly. Her staff shifted and instead a knife was in the Half-Heart's hands, at Kairi's neck.

"Move and she dies."

Sora stared at Kairi with a torn look and then looked around for the rest of his friends. None of them had noticed what was happening yet.

"Put the Keyblade away Sora," Crysita said. He did so. "Alright, here's what you're going to do. The power reacts to you, and I'm willing to bet that you can use it. I might not be able to, but that's alright because you're going to do everything I tell you to."

"Like hell he will," Kairi snapped.

"Shut up you little whore, you have no place to talk."

"Don't call her a whore again," Sora snarled and was about to move forward but stopped when he saw a thin line of blood appear on Kairi's neck as Crysita pushed the knife a little closer.

"I'll call her what I was. Now Sora, move back towards the power. The Nobodies won't touch you."

Sora met Kairi's eyes. She was silently pleading with him to ignore the wicked woman, but she knew he wouldn't. Sora closed his eyes and opened them again before nodding and heading back towards the diamond heart.

It was at this point of time that Goofy turned and saw what was happening. He cried out Sora's name, but it was lost in the sounds of the raging battle. Instead the dog started making his way towards his friends.

Sora turned around as he stood in front of the heart, which was glowing again. He looked at Kairi and Crysita and his eyes widened slightly in shock but only Kairi noticed it. He took a deep breath as he met the gaze of a pair of translucent blue eyes as Naminé appeared behind Kairi. The blond Nobody nodded and Roxas appeared beside her, unknown to Crysita. Sora watched as Roxas flicked a piece of Crysita's hair, and it reacted to his ghostly touch.

"No," Sora said suddenly. "I won't listen to you."

"What?" Crysita asked, actually surprised. "You're willing to kill her? So be it." She never got the chance to stab Kairi though because Roxas slammed the ghostly version of Oblivion onto Crysita's arm. The Half-Heart cried out in pain as Naminé grabbed Kairi away from her.

Sora jumped forward and brought Ultima down on her, but Crysita had changed her knife back into a staff and met his strike.

A loud bang distracted Sora enough for her to get away from him as Maleficent finally killed the giant Nobody that had attacked her, and was now looking for the blood of the one who had ordered it to do so.

The blast (somehow) caused Roxas and Naminé to slide away from Kairi and they both hit the ground rather ungracefully for spirits.

Crysita saw the glare in Maleficent's eyes and dodged out of the way from her meteor attack. That was when the partial Nobody found herself beside Kairi again.

Sora's eyes widened in horror and he rushed towards them as fast as he could.

Crysita swung her staff around, the tip of it sharpening to a point as she attempted to strike Kairi with it.

But it never made its mark.

A terrified scream escaped Kairi's lips, and this time everyone heard it. They all turned to face the commotion, and Riku felt his heart stop as he watched Sora fall to the ground, the crystal staff still embedded in his chest.

"Oh my god," Midori gasped as she watched on.

Goofy, who had been the nearest to Sora and Kairi let out a yell of horror for his friend, one that was mimicked by Donald and King Mickey later on.

Kairi sank to her knees and cradled his head in her arms, calling his name again and again.

"Come on Sora, wake up. Please? You're not supposed to die! Please wake up!" Kairi sobbed. She let out a small shriek as Crysita grabbed the end of the staff and yanked it out of Sora. Crysita held it up, ignoring the blood that streamed down it and onto her hand.

"The idiot," Crysita mumbled.

Naminé and Roxas appeared on either side of them, both with a hand on Sora and one on Kairi's shaking shoulders. Naminé had ghostly tears streaking down her cheeks but Roxas, well Roxas' expression answered Riku's question about whether he could truly feel or not now.

He looked positively livid.

"You bitch," Roxas swore as he stood up, shaking. "You're going to die slowly and painfully, I swear it. That's what you deserve for killing my brother."

As the last words escaped the Nobody's lips Kingdom Hearts started glowing. The eerie blue glow forced all of them to look up in awe. Still, everyone that was left in the room: all the Nobodies, Heartless, Maleficent, Crysita, Lilanti, Jorix, Riku, Donald, Goofy, King Mickey, Midori, Roxas, Naminé, and Kairi, made some sort of surprised sound as a bright light shot down from the moon and slammed into it's gemstone twin, illuminated the room.

When the light died down everyone looked up and gaped in shock at what they saw.

Roxas, Naminé, Kairi and Sora were all gone.

**VVVVVVVVVVV**

**Author's Note**

10 cookies to RockCityRoadStar on guessing how predictable I am!!

I'll be honest with you. I've always SUCKED at writing fighting scenes, especially big, FINAL fights. I can get people excited for the fight but then completely disappoint them. Happens all the time. So I have no hard feelings for those that don't like this.

I did try to get everyone in there though!

The next chapter, although not the best, was my favorite one to write. I don't really know why though…I guess I'm just weird.

Onto the reviews!

**The Key of Hope** – Ye-ee-ee-ep! Everything's down for the count now! And I'm already writing the sequel, which I don't like as much as this but it's ok so far. If I ever get around to it I'll be making a longer version of this story too! Lol. That and I'm writing out a story line for a completely different KH fic…which I may or may not get around to.

**Anonymous with a name** – lol thank you. I'll be honest, Prince John and Yzma won't be showing up in this version of this, but I was planning on making a sort-of Final Mix version, and Robin Hood was one of the worlds I bumped back in.

**Iaveina** – Ponder no more! Lol I could completely see Donald looking at some treasure in the real game and falling down a hill with Sora and Goofy being all 'WTF? Not again!' Aren't we all lazy? It's great!

**DAN88** - …you know if it was Holly who said that comment I would have about a million smart-ass replies about her brain ALWAYS being fried or something along those lines but I must be nice to reviews. I must be nice to reviewers. Wow, you get the gist of things? That's good because I have no clue what I wrote! XD

**RockCityRoadStar** - …remind me again next month so I can say happy birthday. Yeah you're completely going to the nut house. You can share a cell with Sora who was sent there for talking to his alter ego. LMFAO microwave. Yeah ok, you called the whole Sora dying thing. Obviously in the real games he won't…then again Disney does kill a lot of things off. Like Mufasa or Nemo's mom! And Square Enix killed Zack in Crisis Core. I don't even play FF games, my friend does, but I found that incredibly sad when I watched it when she won the game. I love pizza!! And no you wouldn't, because if you swallow too much blood you die. You'd be a cannibal!

**Kanie** – wow, someone's grandmother is planning on killing them through sugar overload. I'm not going to lie, since I went to the dentist today my teeth honest to god hurt when I re-read that list!

**Catharsis25** – lol thanks for reviewing and I'll go back and try to answer some of your questions. Why would they waste their magic on cure when something worse could happen later when they'd need it? Sorry, no collected of Keybearers but…you'll see. Sora does have anger issues in my story, lol. Holly is a completely spazz when she's around…and usually wins at that no matter where she is -.-'

**Taeniaea** – Thank You!! Glad you like it so far!

So, thank you all for the reviews and tell me what you think of this chapter!

_**Krystal Lily Potter **_


	32. Listen to the Rain

**Shadows of a Dream**

_**Chapter Thirty-Two – Listen to the Rain**_

He was floating. He was surrounded by white light. He remembered the pain of getting stabbed in the heart (a pain he had felt before, but at his own hands). He remembered hearing her scream. He remembered suddenly feeling all alone. He remembered that he was dead.

"Sora," a soothing voice whispered.

He squeezed his eyes shut.

"Sora honey, open your eyes."

He refused to listen.

"Sora, please. For me?"

It wasn't Kairi speaking to him, but there was a quality about the voice that reminded him of her. Slowly he opened his bright cerulean eyes and found himself staring into a pair of identical ones.

"Mom?" he gasped as he took in her long, straight, dark blond hair and her small smile. "You really are dead then?"

"Yes," she answered. "Many from the islands weren't killed though."

"So they're Heartless?" Sora said while looking down.

"Yes."

Sora couldn't look at her. He was dead, and he left everyone else with the biggest problem that they had ever faced. He looked at the ground and closed his eyes in shame.

"It's not too late."

"Huh?" his head shot up, his light brown spikes whipping around his face, hiding the shocked look in his eyes briefly. "How mom? I'm dead."

"Not yet."

"But I was stabbed through the heart," Sora said quickly.

"You are not dead my son," a deep voice said suddenly. "Fate has willed it so."

Sora watched as a tall man appeared beside his mother. This man had the darkest blue eyes he had ever seen (they were only a few shades off of black, but still enough to see the blue in them), with spiky, light brown hair and a wide smile on his face.

"Dad?" Sora said, his voice cracking as he spoke the word.

The man nodded and said, "Sora, you are not dead yet because those close to you have willed it so. The powers of the heart are strong, especially for those that use it correctly."

"But—"

_"Listen, listen…"_ voices started whispering around Sora. He looked around, but saw no one else there.

"Sora, what do you know about yourself?"

Sora reached into his pocket and pulled out the object he had found when he first entered the castle. It was a nursery he had entered, and what he had found on the floor was a broken chain with an old crown pendant on it…one identical to his.

Sora looked at the two objects side by side in his hands and flipped them over. His, the one that he had with him since as long as he could remember, had his name embedded in the back of the metal. The second one, however, had a name similar to his, yet different.

Roxas.

"_Listen, listen…"_

"It is custom in my family," his father said suddenly. "When twins are born, to choose a name for the eldest one, and then the name of the second one, if of a different gender, is the same as the first with the letters rearranged to become more suited. For instance, if you had a twin sister her name would have been Rosa. However, if they are the same gender, the second child's name is simply a rearranged version of the name of the eldest with an X placed in it."

"The Organization stole the idea from our history," Ayame said bitterly.

"I don't understand though," Sora whispered.

"Twins, Sora," another voice said. Neither of his parents moved as A Metaphor for Destiny appeared behind them. "You and Roxas were born twins, the twin princes of Twilight's Destiny."

"_Listen, listen…"_

"I was killed in the battle," Sora's father said. "And your mother tried to get both of you away, but Roxas, god he was only a few months old, he was killed."

"You were injured badly as well," Sora's mother added. Sora had a flashback of her running through the halls with the baby version of himself, the blanket covered in blood. "And you were dying. Somehow though, as if sensing that you needed him, Roxas' soul went inside of you and healed you enough so that you would live. He became dormant inside of you until you were split apart. You naturally don't have a Heartless form or a Nobody, because of all the light inside of you. When your brother's murdered soul entered your body, some darkness was generated and slowly built up over the years, hence the reason for your rather weak Heartless."

"So the power reacts to me because I'm a p-p-prince (that was too unbelievable to him) of Twilight's Destiny? And the reason it's only me is because Roxas doesn't actually have a heart to work the power?"

A Metaphor for Destiny nodded.

"_Listen, listen…"_

"The same thing happened with Kairi and Naminé as well," Raiden, Sora's father, said. "They were cousins of the same age. Where you two were nearly identical anyways, Kairi and Naminé looked a little different and Naminé's soul, while dormant inside of Kairi, took on more of her features."

"Like what?"

Four more people appeared in front of him. One couple consisted of a tall regal looking man with black hair and dark brown eyes, and a short woman with fair skin, dark red hair and deep indigo eyes. The other couple was a short man with bright blond hair and silver tinted eyes while the woman too had dark red hair but with bright brown eyes.

The woman with brown eyes waved her hand and the images of two small girls; one Sora knew was Kairi, and the other that looked strikingly like Naminé.

Suddenly, he understood. The second girl was Naminé. Her features were a little more different from Kairi's compared to now, and her eyes were the same bright brown as the woman's.

"You're Kairi and Naminé's parents."

"Yes, we were King Hikaru Aijou and Queen Manami Aijou," the black haired man said.

"And we were Naminé's parents, Kioshi Kikou and Yuri Kikou," the shot man explained.

"_Listen, listen…"_

"Why are you all here?" Sora asked finally.

"To give you strength Sora," A Metaphor for Destiny said as she glided closer to him. "It is your destiny to wield half the powers of Twilight's Destiny. However, due to what happened to Roxas, he will forever only be able to use a small part of the powers himself, so that means more must be passed onto you. Be warned though, power corrupts, and you must use it wisely."

"I'm dead though, how do I get back?" Sora called out.

"You were not meant to die yet," Destiny explained. "But we can only give you some of our strength to get back. You must believe in yourself and your friends."

"My friends?"

"Listen to the rain Sora," Ayame said suddenly.

Sora didn't understand but closed his eyes anyway and strained to hear.

He heard it.

His eyes flew open as he felt cold droplets of water starting to strike his features. He looked around him and listened as the rain beat down on invisible objects around him.

"Do you hear it?"

"Yes."

"Listen to what's beyond it."

"Sora…"

He looked around and saw Goofy standing away from him, looking sadly at the floor. "Gawrsh Sora, if you can hear me, we need you to come back again, ok? I won't forget ya, so I won't let ya fade away, ok?"

"Sora, you big palooka." He turned again and there was Donald. "Don't give up yet, you're too stubborn to die on us! Besides, I bet there will be a tournament at Olympus Coliseum that you'll want to participate in after this, so you need to come back."

"I'm sorry Sora," Mickey's voice rang through him as the mouse came into view. "I'm sorry for not telling you that you were the one to use the power. You must have felt like I was using you, but I never did. I'm sorry and I will make it up to you, I promise."

"Sora you idiot," Midori said. "You had better wake up." When he turned to her he couldn't help but gasp. He was looking at the real Midori, not the half he had become accustom to. "If I have to deal with an emo Riku and a depressed Kairi for the rest of my life, I will find a way to haul your sorry soul back here and torture it. In all seriousness Sora, we need you. Please come back?"

"Come on buddy," Riku managed to choke out. "We're nothing without you, and you know how hard it is for me to admit something like that. Come back, please. We need you. Don't give up fighting on us yet because you're the only one that keeps us all going."

Sora closed his eyes as Riku's voice faded away, just feeling the rain on his skin.

"Sora…"

Once again he opened his eyes and this time he found Roxas and Naminé in front of him, holding out their hands to him like they had when he was trapped in his mind after hurting himself on Destiny Islands.

He reached forward and took their hands. Their images started to blur before vanishing into an array of light and sparks. The light swirled around Sora's hands before vanishing. He gaped in surprise at what was there. Two Keyblades that looked similar to the Ultima blade in their complicated design, yet different. One was white with silver and blue metal on it, the other black with red and gold.

"What?"

"These are the most powerful Keyblades Destiny has ever created," A Metaphor for Destiny whispered. "Made specifically for you young one. Savior (she waved to the white one) and Sacrifice (the black one). It is your destiny to wield them."

"Sora!"

He looked up again and there, standing only a few feet away from him, was Kairi.

The Keyblades vanished as he rushed forward and wrapped his arms around her, but she didn't disappear. He could feel her as much as he could the rain. She was real.

He looked back up at the fading forms of their family members.

"Hurry," they say. "For you don't have much time. Open your eyes to the love around you. You may feel you're alone, but I'm here still with you. You can do what you dream, just remember to listen to the rain."

He nodded and smiled warmly at Kairi as he turned to her again. Suddenly Roxas and Naminé appeared on either side of them, but unlike before, they looked…real.

Sora's new Keyblades appeared in his hands and started to glow brightly. The power from them struck both Roxas and Naminé.

Sora and Kairi watched as their Nobodies started glowing and both watched, as if falling with the rain, as two hearts floated down to them. One went into each of their 'Nobodies'. They glowed for a moment longer before appearing again.

Naminé gasped as a Keyblade appeared in her hand. It was the same one Roxas had seen on her stain-glass platform.

"Chain of Memories," Sora whispered. "It was made for you Naminé."

She nodded, staring at it in awe. Sora turned to his Nobody ("Brother," he whispered) as his Keyblades appeared. One was Oblivion, the other was identical to it, but it was gold.

"Oblivion and Eternity," Sora said.

Roxas looked down and then looked back up, nodding before saying, "Lets send them back to the darkness they came from."

"Together?" Kairi asked.

"Together," the other three echoed and all four put their hands together.

The diamond heart that held the power of Twilight's Destiny appeared in front of them. They all stared at it but no one moved until Roxas pushed Sora forward.

"But—"

"Go," Roxas ordered his brother. "Take it for now. I don't think my heart could handle it."

Sora hesitantly reached forward and placed his hands on it. There was an explosion of light and the rain stopped falling. When it cleared Sora stood there, looking the same except for his clothes.

Instead of his vest he had a black short-sleeved hoodie with silver, and red all over it, underneath that his shirt was navy with gold and red, and his shorts were black with some white on them. His gloves were navy with gold, silver and black on them.

"That's one hell of a drive form," Roxas joked.

"A permanent one," Kairi whispered as Sora walked back to them and put his hand on theirs again.

"Let's go home."

"Together," Naminé said with a nod. Again, bright light exploded around them, but this time originating from their hands.

"Listen to the rain," Sora whispered.

"Please don't let go," Kairi whispered to him. "Never again."

"I won't."

"Good, because it's just too hard to say goodbye."

And with that they faded into the light.

**VVVVVVVVV**

**Author's Note**

You know, this may not be my best-written chapter, but it was my favorite one to write. I don't really know why, but I'll say it's because I'm weird. Meh, I can live with that. There are several instances in this chapter where I use lyrics from "Listen to the Rain" by Evanescence. It's such a pretty and sad song.

So time to reply to the reviews!

**The Key of Hope** – lol yeah, I wasn't planning on revealing a sequel until THIS author's note but my dear cousin messed that up for me. Glad you liked the suspense and everything, because I was SO iffy while writing it! You have no idea how many times I went back and rewrote little pieces of this chapter.

**Catharsis25** – Sora couldn't actually use them funny powers much. Not that he's going to be able to control them as it is. Besides, people don't think right when they panic, and he was definitely freaking. I was planning on waiting til THIS chapter to reveal that there was a sequel, so it would be kinda up in the air about Sora, but Holly had to ruin it!

**DAN88** – LMAO I've never seen a review with the words 'uber' 'epic' and 'random' so close together. I don't know why but it really made me laugh!

**RockCityRoadStar** – You know, I started reading your review about an hour before I went to work (meaning I was in a bad mood) and it made me laugh! Yes I have the mental image of Fremlins in a microwave! And No I didn't get any 'Sora-Killer' reviews (unless you count Holly's, but we won't cause she's just weird), because I think I made it fairly obvious that he wasn't actually gone yet. Glad to know I'm the one who could help by stating that you're going to the funny-farm. LMAO now I'm picking a gremlin in a microwave sitting on a piece of pizza! XD I COULD make a story all about Roxas…but I wouldn't do that to ya! Yeah Crisis Core is for PSP, and I didn't actually play it meself. Zach was the main character…and Cloud is absolutely useless in it. Yeah, Zach was the one who gave Cloud his massive sword of doom and apparently he liked Aerith too. But he wasn't emo! He was all 'THANK GOD I'M A COUNTRY BOY!!' I'm pretty sure I win for knowing the most random, useless facts ever. …ok…I think I'll just back away from you and…Merdek…now…

**Iaveina** – Oh god! I made it squeek! Lmao glad youre not disappointed. Like I said before I rewrote bits and pieces of that chapter many a times. And now you're twitching…maybe I should send you to the funny farm with RockCityRoadStar…and Sora of course!

**.only.Loette.** – lol I thought that it was kind of obvious that I wasn't going to kill Sora. If only he and Roxas vanished then maybe…but Kairi and Naminé went POOF too so…oh well. Of course it's fair that I left it on a cliffy! I wrote it P Glad you like some of the things I threw in here!

**Holly Skyla Hart** - ………LMFAO! OMG! When I saw a review that was like 'OMG YOU KILLED SORA! YOU BASTARD!' I just about died. Now I'm going to be hunted down by a ninja-Kairi and Riku in a pink tutu! XD Yeah I was originally going to have her bash his head badly or something, but I'm like '…no…just because he's dead doesn't mean I have to ruin his face'. You never ruin the face! God, that's what made my friend cry in Star Wars III because the hot guy got his face burnt to a crisp! She gets cookies because she's a good reviewer unlike some people. Plus you steal things from me all the time…and no, YOU'RE NOT GETTING COOKIES! How do you like them apples, huh? HUH? Oh, by the way, you're being put away with RockCityRoadStar, Iaveina and Sora too!

Well thank you for all the entertaining reviews! And thank you to all the readers, even if you haven't reviewed! Lol still love you all!

So remember to tell me what you think, and if you had any suggestions on things I could add in EARLIER in the story (this end part is MOSTLY set in stone, except for the second last chapter) remember to tell me.

On another note: THE HELL ON THEM PUTTING THE HARRY POTTER MOVIE BACK TO JULY 17TH! AND AFTER THE TRAILER SAID NOVEMBER!

WTF?!

Anyways…

_**Krystal Lily Potter**_


	33. Go the Distance

**Shadows of a Dream**

_**Chapter Thirty-Three – Go the Distance**_

Riku started at his hands as they shook. His whole body felt numb, as if he would never be able to live again.

No one moved; no one seemed to know what to do.

Midori looked down at the floor, and watched as a small droplet of water splashed onto the ground. Her gaze quickly turned upward as she stared at the night sky, which had once been blocked by a glass roof, but that was shattered in the battle.

She watched as raindrops started falling around them.

Suddenly, the empty, diamond hearts seemed to explode with light again (much like the Cornerstone had), followed by a loud shattering sound as it broke into hundreds of pieces, scattering around the room, mixing with the broken marble, stone and glass.

Riku was the first to look up after this happened and his eyes widened at what he saw. There they were, they were all back.

And Sora was alive.

Crysita looked up and gaped at them before saying, "So, the Keyblade Master lives."

"And you lose," Sora snapped before lunging towards her quickly, wasting no time. It might have been just Riku thinking it, but he seemed faster than before.

Sora moved his arms quickly, causing Savior and Sacrifice to appear in his hands as he brought them down onto the Half-Heart. She managed to get her crystal staff up in time to block him, but as she moved out of the way her weapon shattered.

Maleficent made her way up behind Sora and was about to wave her own staff, but was thrown backwards. The witch looked around and found herself staring at the rather unhappy face of Roxas. He spun around and sliced through the Heartless that attempted to attack him with his twin blades of Oblivion and Eternity. His cerulean eyes caught sight of a black substance on the floor where many Heartless and Nobodies stood. A huge grin appeared on his face as he rushed towards it.

Naminé blocked Lilanti with Chain of Memories, grunting a bit at the force the other girl used behind her weapon. Midori suddenly lunged out and slammed Twilight beside Naminé's, and the force of both girls together caused Lilanti to stumble backwards into the wall of Heartless. The Half-Heart yelped in pain as the claws of some of the Heartless dug into her, but she fought them off.

"How is this possible?" Riku asked as he continued to fight.

Kairi was beside him, slicing at anything that came near her with Oathkeeper. She looked at him and said, "I have no idea. One minute I was standing alone in the light, and the next minute Sora was in front of me, and then Naminé and Roxas appeared."

Riku's emerald eyes glanced over at the two in question and asked, "How did they get physical bodies?"

"They're real Riku," Kairi said. "I don't know how, but they got hearts when we were in the light."

Mickey slashed at a Nobody that snuck up behind her and said, "It's because they were real at one point of time before becoming your Nobodies."

"What?"

Mickey just shook his head and continued on into the fray.

Roxas rushed around the room and rolled underneath a Heartless that jumped at him. He quickly stood up as he reached the edge of the room and touched the black powder that was on the floor. He smelt it and a grin appeared on his face.

"The people that built this room were great," Roxas muttered. "Axel buddy, this is in honor of you and everything you taught me about combustion." He raised both of his Keyblades and yelled, "Firaga!"

The substance that was lying on the ground was actually put there for any type of ritual that needed to be done in that particular room. None of the people that lived in the castle would have thought that one of their beloved princes would set fire to the large amount of gunpowder that they left around. Unfortunately for them (and Roxas, since he didn't notice it) the gunpowder led off to a corner where someone had shoved several full barrels of it when crying to clear out that room while the city was being destroyed.

Sora was forced backwards into the center of the room, where he bumped into both Donald and Goofy. A moment later Naminé and Midori were pushed into the same spot, and then Riku and Kairi and finally Mickey and Roxas joined the ground.

"You're surrounded," Crysita growled, breathing heavily. She glanced at both Jorix and Lilanti, who were breathing heavily and badly injured. She knew they wouldn't survive this fight, but that was alright with her.

Sora glared back at her and was about to lunge forward when Roxas' voice whispered in his mind, _'Can you hear me Sora?'_

'_Yes?'_ he said with confusion. The long amount of time Roxas' soul spent in his body must have forged a permanent mental link between the twins.

'_Can you make a shield that protects all of us?'_

'_I probably can, why?'_

'_When I say 'now', do it as fast as possible.'_

Sora didn't question his brother and he didn't reply, but Roxas knew he got the message.

Maleficent, being more observant than the Half-Hearts, saw where Roxas was looking and followed his gaze. The blond boy had just noticed the large amount of gunpowder that was going to explode, and now the old witch saw it too.

The rain had stopped falling, so she knew that her magical fire would not be put out. She quickly erected a flaming shield around herself and waited.

"NOW!" Roxas yelled suddenly.

Sora imagined himself making a shield of magic around all of them, he thought of the reflectga spell, and his Keyblades started to glow. A grey shield appeared around the group as a large BOOM sounded around the room.

Everyone shielded his or her eyes from the light of the explosion. A few screams of shock were heard, as well as a loud 'whoop' from Roxas.

When the smoke started to clear away everyone could see the damage done. The wall where the actually explosion had occurred was completely gone, as well as many of the Heartless and Nobodies. There were scraps of every possible substance around the room now, and a light smoke still covered the area. Lilanti and Jorix were both on the ground, having been hit directly by the explosion. The group watched as both of them started to vanish like the Nobodies that had been destroyed before.

"Holy shit," was the first thing that came out of Midori's mouth.

"And that," Roxas said. "Is a tribute to Axel."

"You are never going near the stove, ever," Sora replied as he lowered the shield. "E-ev-er."

"Impressive," Maleficent said as she appeared in front of them. "But not impressive enough."

More Heartless appeared, and Mickey, Donald and Goofy led the way in taking those out.

Sora, Roxas and Riku all ganged up on Maleficent, by forming a triangle around her.

Kairi, Naminé and Midori surrounded Crysita, who was still alive, but injured badly.

"This is over," Sora growled loudly.

Kairi lunged at Crysita, who dodged her, but Midori flew out at her and she had to dodge again. She didn't move out of the way of Naminé in time though.

A loud yell escaped the Half-Heart's mouth as Naminé struck her in the side, causing her to fall to the floor in a heap. Crysita gasped in pain, but managed to stand up again and attempt to strike the blond girl with a sharp piece of her broken staff, but Midori blocked the attack, forcing her backwards.

Riku, and Roxas swiped their Keyblades at Maleficent, who was fighting back with her staff expertly. Neither boy relented though.

Riku turned to see what Sora was doing because the brunet hadn't flung himself into battle like he normally would. Instead Sora stood a few feet away, glancing back and forth between the battles with Crysita and Maleficent.

Savior and Sacrifice started glowing again as Sora closed his eyes. The power that he could feel flowing through him was unbelievable. He wanted to rush into the battle with Riku and Roxas, but he couldn't. Every time he moved pain would shoot through him, but he assumed that it was his body adjusting to the powers that Kingdom Hearts (for that's where the true power came from) had given him.

Kairi swung Oathkeeper and it hit its target. Her indigo eyes met Crysita's shocked ones as she said, "That was for hurting everyone else." She jerked her Keyblade back out of Crysita's stomach and slammed it into the place here half her heart was. "And that was for what you did to Sora."

The Half-Heart stumbled backwards, her eyes going blank as she started to disintegrate. Naminé suddenly shot forward and pushed the body backwards while calling Midori's name. The girl in question looked around and gasped as Crysita hit her, their two bodies combining together again.

Midori felt as if her world was spinning around faster than a tornado. She groaned in pain and blacked out, falling to the ground.

Maleficent noticed this happening and grinned at the thought of the death of the last Half-Heart, the last threat of the Nobodies. Her distraction though, cost her dearly.

Roxas had slammed Oblivion into her staff while Riku mimicked him with Way to Dawn. She fended them off easily, but she missed hitting the third Keyblade away. Eternity reached it target, the same one as Kairi had made with Crysita: her heart.

Maleficent slumped down and said, "No matter, I will be back. Nothing can keep me away forever."

"Except for me," Sora said suddenly. He swung Savior and Sacrifice, and both light and dark came out of them. Everyone heard Maleficent scream in pain as the power swirled around her body before imploding. The power that was coming from the Keyblades, from Sora, continued to move, slamming into all of the Nobodies and Heartless and destroying them.

"Sora!" Kairi cried out as she started running towards him. The power surrounded him again, going back inside of his heart. He groaned and his eyes closed as he fell to the ground.

Kairi skidded to the ground beside him and said, "Sora?" He was still breathing though.

Mickey made his way towards them and said, "He was bestowed with a lot of power very quickly. His body will need time to adjust."

"Oh my!" they all heard Naminé exclaim. All of them turned to the blond, who was cradling Midori with a rather stunned look on her face and everyone could see why.

Instead of her waist length, green hair, her hair was only to her shoulders and raven black. Her eyes slowly opened, and Riku rushed towards her, bending over to see if she was alright.

What he saw stunned him. Her eyes seemed to be a little brighter, as if filled with something that wasn't there before, and there was a confused yet curious look plastered on her face, something that would not have been there before, even if she had been feeling them.

Midori sat up and put a hand over her heart as a huge smile appeared on her face. She laughed happily and said, "It's all there again!"

Naminé smiled as well as she and Riku helped the raven-haired girl stand up. Naminé too placed a hand over her heart and said, "I know the feeling."

"I'm whole," Midori said happily. "I'm whole Silver!"

"With black hair to boot," Riku said as he pulled at it lightly.

She smiled at him and turned to Naminé, "And you're real! Roxas? Is he?"

Naminé nodded and pointed over to where Roxas still knelt beside Sora, smiling at them. Mickey, Donald and Goofy were also there, all smiling.

Sora groaned and opened his eyes. Kairi leaned over him and said, "Sora, wake up you lazy bum."

"Gimme a break Kairi," he muttered. He slowly sat up and looked around with wonder. Suddenly, realization appeared on his face as he said, "We won."

"We won," Mickey confirmed happily.

"We won!" Sora suddenly whooped happily. He reached up and hugged Donald and Goofy tightly as he jumped up. "We did it! Woah…"

His world spun some, but Roxas and Kairi stopped him from falling.

"What now?" Donald asked.

"Do we go home the way we came?" Goofy wondered.

"It looks like the gate is still there," Midori said while looking out the giant hole in the wall Roxas had created.

Sora smiled at Kairi, having regained his balance and moved away from his brother and his girlfriend. He looked up at Kingdom Hearts in the sky, the real Kingdom Hearts, not just some artificial one created by a group of Nobodies.

He turned around and looked at Roxas seriously before saying, "This used to be our home."

"I figured that much," Roxas said as he approached Sora.

Sora dug in his pocket and pulled out the old crown pendant and handed it to his twin, who looked at it oddly.

"We were twins you know. You were killed when mom tried to flee this place and I was injured badly. Your soul went into mine and healed me," Sora explained. "The same basic thing happened to Kairi and Naminé, but they were cousins."

"Really?" Kairi asked while looking at her former Nobody.

"Yeah," Sora said as he drew out his Keyblades again. Roxas tilted his head slightly before his appeared as well.

Everyone was silent as they watched the two nearly identical boys put the tips of the four Keyblades together and a bright light appeared where they touched. The light swirled with blue and everyone watched as the pieces of diamond that were on the floor flew into the air and rebuilt the diamond heart. The stone that made up the sphere around it also rebuilt itself, and as it did hundreds of glowing blue balls flew from it.

"The souls," Donald said.

"They're free," Kairi whispered.

The rest of the room slowly seemed to repair itself, until it looked better than when they had first entered it.

"Let's go give the children their hearts back," Mickey said suddenly.

They all nodded and everyone headed towards the exit. Kairi grasped Sora's hand tightly as he hesitated, still looking up at Kingdom Hearts. He turned his gaze to her and quickly pulled her close, kissing her deeply. Kairi couldn't help but giggle as she pulled back and said, "I'm sure we'll see this place again."

"Yeah," Sora agreed as he allowed her to lead him out of the room. The large door closed behind them, sealing itself away until it was needed again.

**VVVVVVVVVVVVV**

**Author's Note**

Sorry that the final battle wasn't…epic or anything. As much as I hate to admit it I'm better at writing fluff or 'deep thought' stuff…even if I like the adventure the most.

So what do you think so far? We're winding down to the end now. Technically there's only one more chapter than the Epilogue…which is longer than most of the chapters, if I remember right!

And yeah, eventually I'll get around to putting the illustratored version of Midori somewhere, as well as the pictures of the Keyblades Savior, Sacrifice, Twilight and Chain of Memories. The Keyblades are nothing special, I just took bits and pieces of other Keyblades and combined them together, and the picture of Midori…well…

See, another one of my hobbies is designing clothes…most of them are kind of odd, but whatever! I am absolutely TERRIBLE at drawing guys and guys clothes, so I won't be putting any images of the clothes or stuff Sora, Roxas and Riku might wear, and I'm not very good at drawing faces so Midi's face isn't that great, even after being through illustrator…just a warning for whenever I get it up.

Replies to reviews time!

**Taeniaea** – Thank you

**Holly Skyla Hart** – You are a completely spazz, I swear. It wasn't REALLY Roxas and Namine that turned into Keyblades! It was just like…an apparation of them. Namine seems so light and Roxas was 'someone from the dark'. LMFAO I remember happy-ending-overdose! Haha. I know I listen to weird music! And lol, you're dog ALWAYS steals your food.

**The Key of Hope** – Yeah, that's what I was going for, a mix of all the drives together. No!! I did not steal the idea from Harry Potter 7. Although I looked at the chapter and smacked myself on the head. What happens is when a person reads or sees something it gets stuck in the back of their head and they might unintentionally copy part of it. It happens a lot with logos and designs…so in the long run I probably subconsciously got the idea from HP7, but I didn't mean to!

**Iaveina** – Thank you. Lol Yes that is something Midori would say, half or whole hearted! I spent forever trying to come up with the names of Sora's keyblades, I actually kind of designed them on the computer too. Yeah my friends and I will probably go and see it at a midnight showing, which will be the third year we spent that day at a midnight showing! Order of the Phoenix and The Dark Knight were the other two.

**Kanie** – lmao! Ouch, when I get fills in they freeze my mouth all to shit and I can't talk the rest of the day right. But I ask them to because they hit my nerve once and it does hurt like a bitch!

**RockCityRoadStar** – I don't want to know what you were expecting and I'm kind of scared to find out. It wasn't MUCH shorter than the other ones, and the chapter before was longer than I usually do. LMAO just watch the cut scenes! They're ridiculously good and I don't even keep up with Final Fantasy. All I know I know from my friend. LMAO that sounds like when my friends and I play Sims! We try to find the quickest way to kill our Sims and the most original! I know, it's sick and twisted, we all acknowledge it!

**I Rule kingdom hearts** – No, I wanted Sora and Roxas to have the ability to use two Keyblades outside of a drive form. And no one else is getting the drive forms…lmao no, no huge tournament, once this is over they…well you'll see. As for the picture of Midori umm….I kind of forgot about it and I don't really know where to put it since I kinda stopped working on the website I was making...oops.

**Catharsis25** – LMAO maybe I shouldn't have written your name! Actually at the end of the last chapter I said Sora, Kairi, Namine and Roxas vanished so they're actually in…limbo I guess is the best word to describe it. Everyone else is back in the castle.

**DAN88** – lol I want to see that movie, but god forbid a good movie actually come to the theatre here! Haha you sound like me after I saw the Ring for the first time. But in all fairness the phone rang after we stopped watching it, and it was a funny ring and no one was there, then 7 days later, TO THE MINUTE, we had a satellite and my mom turned it off…causing it to go snowy…yeah I freaked. Anyways…yeah. Roxas and Sora were originally born twins, but I thought it'd be really weird for BOTH sets of them to be twins, so I made Kairi and Namine cousins instead. It's done a lot, I know, but it works!

So thank you again to all of you! I know I always say this but it isn't an automatic reply, I really mean it!

So I'll catch ya all next time!

_**Krystal Lily Potter**_


	34. I Still Believe

**Shadows of a Dream**

_**Chapter Thirty-Four – I Still Believe**_

Yuna sat on the edge of a large stone, staring at the people below her with a small glare. Her eyes were focused on the tanned, blond young man talking to his friends. How she wished she were normal so that she could be with him. Tidus thought she was adorable, but admitted that she was very pretty ("For a tiny, little thing," he had added) and he too wished that she were normal at times.

Paine stood a few feet behind her, frowning at the pining that she was doing.

Suddenly Rikku flew up in front of her, an excited look on her small face as she flipped in the air and said, "You'll never believe it Yunie!"

"Believe what?" Yuna asked curiously. Paine, also curious, made her was closer to the group.

"They're back!" Rikku said happily. "And Sora said that he has treasure for us!"

Yuna glided up in the air and looked down at the group before. She smiled at her fellow Gullwings and quickly zipped downward.

"Tidus!" she called out happily.

The boy in question turned and looked at her while saying, "Hi Yuna."

"You'll never guess what Rikku just told me!" she said while gliding in circles around the group. She giggled as she flew over the elusive Cloud Strife's shoulder so that she was face to face with Tidus.

"What did she tell you?"

"They're back. All of them."

Everyone in the group: Leon, Aerith, Yuffie, Cloud, Tifa, Cid, Merlin, Hayner, Olette, Selphie, Wakka and Tidus, all understood exactly what that meant. And before little Yuna could blink, all of them were rushing to where the Gummi Ship dock was.

**VVVVVVVVVVV**

Sora took in a deep breath as they walked through the streets of Radiant Garden. He stretched his aching limps, which screamed from pain from all the transformations that they had been through. They traveled through dozens of worlds in record breaking time, returning the children that had been taken from there. He had been a lion, a merman, a bird, a dinosaur (a triceratops, which Riku attributed to his spiky hair since Roxas was the same, but who was he to talk since his height made him a brontosaurus) and several other things.

The first stop had been Disney Castle, to go and get a larger ship while dropping off Huey, Dewey, Louie, Max and PJ. They had met Pete, who checked to see if his son was alright and then quickly left, worried for his own safety. Goofy volunteered to take care of PJ when he got back to Disney Castle though.

Not only were they returning children, but they were undoing the damage the Half-Hearts had done. Sora's new powers proved interesting, as he was able to reverse the spells on the people and he was able to track people by sensing out their hearts. They Heartless and Nobides seemed almost non-existent anymore.

On top of that, they found that several worlds that had been destroyed by Maleficent, for she was the one to destroy them, the Half-Hearts were just responsible for freezing everyone into stone, crystal, ice, wood or vines. Along with these several worlds, they found some different people had also appeared again.

Roxas couldn't wait until he took Hayner and Olette back to Twilight Town, where Pence waited for them. Many people that had been turned into Heartless were alive and well again.

Roxas walked beside Naminé, staring at the world with interest. He remembered this place from when his soul resided in Sora, but it was different really being there.

"Hey, Leon!" Goofy cried out suddenly from where he, Mickey and Donald led the group.

Their friends appeared around the corner, and Sora couldn't help but laugh and wave with his free hand while his other arm stayed around Kairi's shoulder.

The redhead laughed happily when she saw Selphie, and ran out of her boyfriend's arms to hug her friend tightly.

"Riku! Sora!" Wakka cried out happily as they approached. "How's it been?"

"Pretty good," Riku replied.

"Roxas? Naminé?" Olette said suddenly, distracting everyone to not only them, but the other quiet girl as well.

"Hey Olette," Roxas said happily.

Hayner walked up to him and poked him in the chest, and then turned to Sora and poked his arm. A confused look passed over his face as he said, "I don't understand, I thought you two were the same person. How are you both here?"

"Turns out we were wrong," Roxas shrugged. "We were two separate people living in Sora's body. It was appropriate though, he had enough empty space in his head for about ten more souls."

Sora glared at him.

"Who are you?" Selphie asked curiously as she caught sight of a person she didn't know.

"Oh, I'm uh…"

Riku rolled his eyes at Midori and said, "Less confident with a full heart than half of one."

Her brown eyes flashed angrily as she smacked Riku across the head and said, "I am not! You're the wuss Silver!"

Wakka couldn't help but laugh at them.

"My name's Midori," she explained to them.

"Nice to meet you, and who are you?" this time Selphie's question was directed at Naminé.

"Oh, I'm Naminé," the blond said with a small smile.

"Pence?" Olette asked suddenly.

"He's back in Twilight Town already," Sora said quickly.

Both of the Twilight Town natives smiled brightly.

"So you saved the universe again," Leon said with a small smile.

"I knew you could do it!" Yuffie cried out happily. "Squall here was getting a little doubtful though."

"My name is Leon."

"To each his own," Yuffie said in a singsong voice.

"Are you all ok?" Aerith said as she came closer to them, inspecting all of them. "Are you hurt anywhere?"

"No, we're alright," Mickey replied. "We healed up all the major injuries early on."

"What happened exactly?" Cid asked curiously. "We got yur transmission, but my ships were sabotaged by Nobodies."

"Probably Crysita covering all her bases," Midori said. "Don't worry, she's gone for good." No one mentioned that technically what made up Crysita was now inside Midori, but no one worried about it because the actual being of the horrible girl was gone.

"What happened?" Tifa asked, excitement in her eyes for once. "Did you kick their sorry a—"

"Yes, we did," Sora said, quickly cutting her off as some children ran past.

"We should head back to Merlin's house," Cloud said suddenly. "They can tell us the entire story there."

**VVVVVVVVVVV**

"So, Sora's got, like, super powers now?" Selphie asked from where she sat on a couch that Merlin had conjured.

"Pretty much," Kairi answered. "But he doesn't know how to use them yet."

"And you and Roxas were actually twins all along?"

"Yup," Sora and Roxas said together.

"And Kairi, you and Naminé are cousins?"

Naminé nodded.

"Wow."

"So what now?" Tidus asked.

"The worlds are slowly repairing themselves," Sora explained. "A few major ones have reappeared already, like Twilight Town."

"What about home?" Wakka asked. "Will it be there?"

"We're hoping," Riku answered.

Mickey cleared his throat, causing everyone to look at him. The mouse looked at the floor sadly before saying, "As much as I hate to break up this reunion, we don't know how long the worlds will stay connected."

"We need to get home before the gateways are sealed off," Sora said. "But that means…"

"We'll take Hayner and Olette back to Twilight Town," Mickey said. "It's the last place we need to drop people off. The only way I imagine that you can get home is by a portal."

"Well you're a little wrong," Hayner said suddenly. "Just a small detail."

"Really?" Donald asked skeptically.

"Yeah, isn't Roxas coming with us?"

Roxas blinked. He hadn't even taken into consideration where he was going to go. Twilight Town had always felt like home to him, but he actually had family members now, even if it was only his brother. He turned and glanced at Sora.

Sora, it seemed, hadn't predicted this either. He looked at the ground and said, "You can go with them if you want."

"I—"

"It'll be weird without you, because you were always there since I got home, but we'll see each other again," Sora said, but those close to him heard the strain in his voice. "Everything will be fine."

Naminé looked and Roxas, then at the floor and said, "I never really had a place where I felt at home. First I was held in the Castle that Never Was, and then Castle Oblivion, then the mansion in Twilight Town, and then the Castle That Never Was again. The only thing I've had that's constant was when I was with Kairi, and you know what? I think I still need that constant. I'm going to Destiny Islands."

Roxas gulped and stared at her.

"You coming too Midi?" Riku asked.

"Well I…maybe…"

"You should go as soon as possible," Merlin said. "It's not that we want to get rid of you, but the worlds will be closing up sooner rather than later."

"Let's see those new powers of yours at work Sora," Kairi whispered to him as she kissed his cheek.

His duel Keyblades appeared, and he pointed them towards a spot on the floor. Beams of black and white hit the floor as a glowing grey portal appeared.

"We'll meet again," Cloud said. Everyone else nodded.

"Come on," Riku said suddenly and hauled a reluctant Midori through the portal, ignoring what she was trying to say.

Selphie waved at everyone that she had become accustom to (there were tears when she said goodbye to Yuffie) and she and Wakka left. Yuna came up and gave Tidus a small hug before flying away and watching him leave.

"Goodbye," Naminé whispered suddenly, and before Roxas could stop her she rushed through the portal. Kairi sent a worried look after her cousin and Sora encouraged her with a nudge to go after her. Kairi nodded and ran through the portal.

"I guess this is goodbye," Sora said to Roxas. "Good luck man." He started to approach it.

"Stop."

Sora looked at his twin curiously.

Roxas turned to face Hayner and Olette and said, "I'm sorry but, I can't go to Twilight Town. My home is with my brother…my home is with Naminé. I'm sorry."

"It's alright," Olette said after a moment.

"Besides, it's like Sora said, we'll meet again," Hayner agreed.

Roxas nodded.

"I guess this is goodbye again," Sora said to Donald and Goofy.

"Gawrsh, no it's not Sora," Goofy said.

"It's only see ya later," Donald agreed.

"They're right," Mickey said. "I have no doubt that we'll meet again. Who knows, now that Twilight's Destiny is starting to repair itself, it might all come back together one day and Twilight Town and Destiny Islands will be one again."

Sora nodded and hugged his friends tightly. He and Roxas walked towards the portal, Roxas looking forward and Sora looking back.

He watched as all his friends faded from view and into nothingness.

**VVVVVVVVVVV**

**Author's Note**

Well this is the last chapter, BUT there's an **epilogue** coming! No matter how many times I finish I fic I'll never get used to the feeling that comes with finishing one. Ya know what I mean?

Just so everyone knows ahead of time, I WON'T be putting any replies to reviews or anything in the Epilogue. I don't like ENDING something with author's notes, I find it makes less of an impact. I'll reply to reviews in PM though!

Thank you to everyone who has reviewed my story! Especially my 'serial reviewers' Iaveina, The Key of Hope, catharsis25, Demonically Angelic Neko88 and RockCityRoadStar! And thank you to everyone else who reviewed too! Even if it was only once or twice, I still appriciate it!

Now, for the last time in this fic, replies to reviews!

**Iaveina** – lol thanks, I'm glad you think this story deserves to be in a C2 for good KH stories, considering it was my first shot attempting to write one…and of course they won! I did promise a sequel! I'm not that good at drawing either (I'm better at painting), so what I did was combined the basic designs for three or four different keyblades into one. Namine's Chain of Memories is a good example of that. I think I used Oathkeeper, Wishing Lamp, and something else too…and it was all done on the computer

**The Key of Hope** – See, earlier on, everyone just used to tell me that I sucked at writing any kind of fighting stuff…so I guess I still carry that with me. Wow, creepy! I had a dream about eating chocolate ice cream once (I hate chocolate ice cream), and when I woke up I said I was hungry and mom's like "Oh, well I just bought chocolate ice cream!" and that freaked me right out! Seriously though, why would you WANT to see the future? A while ago I thought it'd be cool, but what's the fun in knowing what's coming? If it's something bad you'd be paranoid and try to stop it, but by trying to stop it something worse could happen, and if it's something good a person would spend all their time waiting for that to happen! …anyways I think 'll just go now…

**catharsis25** – Well I COULD just stop it here, it seems to be nicely put together now. Would you feel ripped off then? Lol, I'm not THAT mean, despite what my sister, Holly and my friends say! And yeah, I already said that I would be putting a link to any pictures up on my profile. Hmmm…I think I should just make a quick piczo site to put them up for now, then finish my good one later…

**Oberon Axelus** – I love Axel, so of course I gave him a tribute. And as you've seen Roxas did get some of his friend's bad habits. Just remember though, there is a sequel and anything can happen in it. Got it memorized?

**Demonically Angelic Neko88** – I thought I'd write your full name since this is the last reply I'll be writing in this fic!! XD Yes I'm strange. And I actually tried to get songs all along for every chapter, but I couldn't think of some for the middle chapters so it's pretty much just the first group of chapters and the last group that have song titles as titles!

**RockCityRoadStar** – I'm pretty sure if a deep, manly voice said 'suicide' in Sims I'd probably die from laughing. No, I know what you mean! I'm WAY better at writing than talking! I don't make sense half the time when I talk, and I swear, when you work at McDonalds you become illiterate when you're there! At least, that's the pattern I'VE noticed! I like Austrailan accents, but I'm pretty sure my stereotypical Canadian one wins! No, still one more to go after this! EW! I am like, h-core Harry Potter writer, and I would write different requests to a point, but NO WAY in HELL would I write a Snape/Cedric Diggory story. LMAO, actually I'd probably write like a Harry/Hermione or Harry/Ginny one and then just go through after I was done and chance the names so I wouldn't HAVE to write all the mush while picturing…Snape and Cedric Diggory. Tell you what, if you live through that, I'll write you whatever type of fic you want for your birthday…September, right? …if you live that long…

**Anonymous with a name** – Ending is coming. I'm glad you liked this chapter and Listen to the Rain. The final mix one won't be here for a while. It'll be done AFTER I finish with the sequel, which I am tampering with a lot right now, but I've got the first few chapters on the go and the main story line written out too so a Final Mix won't take a year or two to make, promise! Oh, and I can tell you right now that, as I'm planning out, Prince John looks like he could make another cameo in the final mix!

Again, thank you to all of you and I hope you like reading this as much as I liked writing it!

Epilogue will be up in a few days!

_**Krystal Lily Potter**_


	35. Epilogue: Final Distance

**Shadows of a Dream  
_Epilogue - Final Distance_**

_**I wanna be with you now   
Futari de distance chijimete   
Ima nara maniau kara   
We can start over hitotsu niwa narenai   
I wanna be with you now   
Itsu no hi ka distance mo   
Dakishimerareru you ni nareru yo   
We can start sooner, yappari I wanna be with you**_

The smell of the sea assaulted Sora's senses as they appeared on Destiny Islands. He slowly opened his eyes and held Kairi closer to him while looking around. It looked exactly like he remembered it, but there was something about it that made it look a little…small.

Maybe it was the fact that Sora knew there was so much more out there, or maybe it was the knowledge that this wouldn't be the last time he left the islands, or maybe it was the fact that these islands used to make up Twilight's Destiny, along with Twilight Town, but whatever it was he decided to ignore it for now.

"We're home," Kairi said loud enough for everyone else to hear.

Sora leaned his head close to her ear and whispered to her alone, "I didn't need to come back to the islands to be home."

She frowned lightly and turned around so that her head was leaning on his chest while looking up at the dark sky, "That's right, you're one of two Princes from Twilight's Destiny."

Sora laughed and said, "You're a Princess from Radiant Garden too, remember. That's not what I meant anyway. I meant as long as I'm with you, I'm home."

She smiled warmly and said, "You are such a sap."

He shook his head and turned slightly as Roxas took a deep breath and said, "It's odd, being here and being my own person."

"I know," Naminé agreed while grabbing his hand. "I felt everything Kairi did while I was within her, but to feel it on my own…"

"It's different," Roxas agreed while nodding his head.

"What do you think Midori?" Riku asked his friend while placing a hand on her shoulder.

She glanced at him with her deep brown eyes before looking up at the sky and saying, "It's beautiful but I—well I'm just used to bigger cities. I'm sure it'll grow on me eventually, but I still have a problem."

"Oh?" the silver-haired young man asked.

"Yeah, I don't have any place to live," Midori said while rolling her eyes. "You dragged me through the portal before I could point at out to you Silver."

"That is a problem," Naminé agreed quickly. "And it goes for us too." She motioned to herself and Roxas quickly.

"Don't be silly," Kairi said with a frown. "You're staying with me Nam. You are my cousin after all."

"And Roxas, you're stuck with me bro," Sora said with a grin.

"Where are we supposed to go brother dearest?" Roxas said sarcastically. "If you remember correctly neither of us are legal adults for another year and well your mom…well our mother is…you know."

"That's a good point," Naminé said. "What about Riku and Kairi's parents? How do we know they're here?"

"You guys think to much," Selphie said with a frown, having stayed out of the conversation until now. "Sora, can't you do some weird kind of thing were you can tell who's on the island by looking at their hearts?"

Sora stared at her blankly and Kairi groaned while smacking his chest lightly. He glanced down at her before grinning sheepishly at his friends and closing his eyes. Wakka, Tidus and Selphie, who hadn't actually seen Sora use his unleashed powers, stared in shock as a white glow appeared around his body.

Sora's mind seemed to shoot out of his body and fly quickly around the island. He quickly felt the parents of Selphie, Tidus and Wakka. After a few moments he felt the confused feelings of Riku's mother and father and soon after Kairi's adopted mother (but not her father) were found.

The glowing stopped and he opened his eyes, grinning and saying, "All your parents are fine." He didn't have the heart to tell Kairi the truth right now. He'd do it later, in private.

A collective sigh of relief passed through the group.

"That's nice and all," Midori said, crossing her arms in front of her and glaring. "But that leaves not only me, but you two in a bind."

Roxas suddenly snapped his fingers and said, "That's it!"

"What's it?" the green-haired girl asked.

Sora stared at his Nobody ("Brother," he quickly reminded himself.) before grinning and saying, "That's a great idea!"

"What's a great idea?" Kairi asked while looking up at him.

"Roxas' idea."

"He didn't say anything," Midori said with confusion.

"They're not normal brothers Midori," Naminé piped up. "Roxas' soul lived in Sora's virtually all their lives and was only released for a little while when they were fourteen to fifteen and then went back, but was still aware of his own existence. Their minds are connected and they can hear each other's thoughts and speak to one another in their heads, like when they shared one body. It's the same with Kairi and I, but their bond is a little stronger."

"I can't feel Crysita," Midori replied with a frown.

"You wouldn't, she was a normal Nobody, in a sense," Roxas said. "Most Nobodies fade back into darkness when they become whole. Naminé and I were different. After Kairi technically killed Crysita, what was left went back into you to make you whole again, but she doesn't actually exist anymore herself."

"I'll take your world for that Roxy, but would either you or Sky over there tell me what your idea is?"

"Well we can't live on our own for a little under a year-" Roxas started.

"-And you don't have a place to live-" Sora continued.

"-And we have an entire house to our selves now-" Roxas added, not missing a beat.

"So, since you're legal age why don't you stay with us?" the two boys spoke together in perfect sync.

Everyone stared at them before Riku said, "That's actually a good idea."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Sora and Roxas echoed angrily.

"Drop it," Kairi said while patting Sora's cheek and Naminé leaned her forehead on Roxas' shoulder.

"Hey you guys," Tidus said. "As interesting at this is I'm going to head to the main island, that way I can get over the whole 'you're back' thing."

"I guess we should too," Wakka agreed.

Selphie nodded and said, "Call us tomorrow and tell us what's happening, alright?"

The remaining six bid their goodbyes to their friends before standing in silence on the beach.

"Well Midi?" Sora asked.

She stared at the younger boys before smiling and saying, "I think you two are the sweetest things alive. The only condition I have is, everyone cleans their own rooms."

"Deal," Roxas said quickly.

"That and Roxas doesn't go near the stove."

"Hey!" he whined as everyone laughed. "So I blew up a couple things! Axel, the pyro-maniac, was my best friend! I wonder where he is now…"

"I'm sure he's fine," Naminé answered.

"It wouldn't be bad if you didn't blow up half of a castle only after a few minutes of having your own body," Sora said with a laugh.

"Sora, Roxas isn't allowed near the stove? And we all take turns doing laundry?" Midori said in a business-like manner.

"Deal," Sora said, repeated the same tone that Roxas had used earlier.

"Alright then," she smiled widely. "Looks like you two now have a big sister."

"Can we call you Sissy?"

Twilight appeared in Midori's hand and she glared at the two boys before saying, "If you do you'll both lose some very vital body parts."

Sora shifted so that Kairi was blocking the majority of his body from the 19-year-old and Roxas winced.

"Oh yeah, you'll stab yourself and even get stabbed by someone else for me," Kairi said sarcastically. "But when Midi threatens you, you willingly throw me between you and her Keyblade."

"I love you Kai," he said seriously. "But I do not want her cutting anything off of me."

Riku snorted with laughter at his friends before turning to look at the darkened ocean. His bright green eyes widened suddenly as something started glowing in the distance. At first he thought it was the sunrise, but he quickly realized three things: first, that he would have seen the sky lighten if the sun were about to rise, second, that it was only around midnight, and three, the sun was definitely not blue like that glowing was.

"What the hell is that?" he asked while pointing at the horizon. Everyone followed his gaze and Kairi gasped.

"What is it?" Naminé asked quickly.

"It's—but—that place is gone, isn't it?" Kairi asked while looking up at Sora.

Sora stared at her for a moment before realization flashed through his eyes and he said, "That was what you saw when we were separated the first time, right? I was over there in that light. In the End of the World."

Kairi nodded and pulled him closer to her, remembering how he was torn away from her before.

"What's it doing here?" Riku wondered.

_**I wanna be with you now   
Futari de distance mitsumete   
Ima nara maniau kara   
We can start over kotoba de tsutaetai   
I wanna be with you now   
Sono uchi ni distance mo   
Dakishimerareru you ni nareru yo   
We should stay together, yappari I wanna be with you**_

Suddenly, the light on the horizon seemed to glow brighter and Midori let out a gasp. They all looked up at the sky and saw small golden balls of light falling, fixing everything that was still missing on the islands.

"Exactly like that time," Sora muttered.

After a few minutes of this it stopped but the pastel shade of blue in the distance seemed to explode. Hundreds of stars flew through the sky, landing back in their original places.

"All the worlds that were restored," Roxas said in awe.

"All the worlds we saved," Naminé replied.

The people of Destiny Islands, and from all other places in the universe that were still standing, watched the spectacle with wide eyes, and big smiles.

"We saved them all," Kairi whispered in Sora's ear.

Sora nodded and said, "One of these days Iri, I'll take you around to all the worlds without needing to fight. I'll properly teach you how to fly in Neverland, and I'll show you how much fun snow can actually be." He didn't think she had enough fun that time in Christmas Town and the small bit of flying they did in Neverland wasn't near enough to get the full experience.

"We'll see everyone again," she added. "Including all of those little children we saved."

"They were all adorable, even some of the older ones like Max and PJ," Naminé said with a nod.

"I'm not much of a kid person," Midori admitted. "Maybe, one day, I might have one."

"Who needs more than one?" Riku asked.

"I'm glad you agree," she said with a nod. "Although I plan on being older. There's still too much to do to be held down by a family."

Roxas laughed but nodded all the same.

Kairi huffed and said, "I don't know about you, but I want a family young. I don't want to be one of those old hags that their kids are embarrassed of later on in life. The earlier the better, well not too early like fifteen or anything."

Riku snickered and said, "She wants kids Sora, you better get right on that."

Sora's face turned about fifty different shades of red as everyone laughed at him. He tried to snap back but he couldn't seem form a coherent sentence.

Kairi patted his cheek and said, "Ignore them. We're only seventeen now, that's a little too early too."

"Way to suck out the fun Kairi," Midori muttered.

"What about 18?" Roxas asked jokingly, grinning at his brother's glare.

"Oh, that's a completely different story," Kairi said with a serious tone, but a wicked grin that Sora couldn't see. "Once I turn 18, since my birthday's after yours and Sora's, everything is a go."

Sora's face turned a deeper shade of red if that were possible. He groaned and hid his face in her long hair, his skin almost blending in with the shade perfectly.

"Well," Naminé said playfully. "Isn't there a tradition of people marrying at a really young age in royal families? You are a Prince and Princess after all."

Kairi blushed as well at this before saying, "Then that means you and Roxas are getting hitched soon, right? He's a Prince, and you were claimed as the Dutchess of Radiant Garden when only little…at least that's what King Mickey told us."

They both blushed deeply but soon everyone was laughing hysterically,

"It's good to joke around again," Riku said after they calmed down.

Sora looked up from Kairi's head where he had been laughing into her hair and said, "We need to live each moment like it's the last day we'll be here. We will be called away again, but lets just have fun at home for now." He knew he'd meet King Mickey, Donald, Goofy and everyone else that they left behind again, but he knew, for now, that they would all be spending time and having fun with their families, no matter the world that they were from.

Kairi, Riku, Roxas, Naminé and Midori all nodded and smiled at him. They all looked up at the now start-filled sky and silently decided to stay on the beach for the rest of the night.

Soon Naminé was curled up next to Roxas, Midori was fast asleep while pretty much keeping Riku in a bone crushing hug (he didn't seem to mind though) and Sora was laying with Kairi mostly on top of him.

She looked up, grinning and kissed his lips. He returned the kiss and after a few moments they broke it and simply lay back, enjoying each other's company.

"So, Sora," Roxas said. "How are we going to explain me to everyone."

"No one here knows dad, actually no one remembers him since their memories were erased," Sora said with a shrug. "So we can just tell everyone you were with him since they don't know he died when we were babies. Naminé and Midori don't really need stories but—"

"No, no," his twin said while shaking his head. "I mean how do we explain me, Roxas, to someone like Mr. Gates? I was supposed to be your alter-ego to them, remember?"

"Oh right," Sora said with a frown, remembering the day nearly a year ago now when his mother and guidance counselor thought he was insane. "Tell him it was the Heartless messing with his head? He doesn't know what they really are."

"Alright," Roxas replied, seemingly satisfied with the answer.

"So, Sora," Kairi said, in the same tone of voice Roxas had.

"So Sora what?" he asked as his tired eyes started to close.

"Do you actually plan on going to school now?"

Laughter erupted from Riku, Roxas and Naminé at her words. Midori woke up, confused while blinking at them all.

"You're all nuts," she muttered before falling back asleep.

Sora sighed and said, "Sleep now."

"But you didn't answer my question."

It was too late, the exhausted Sora was already out like a like.

Kairi smiled at him and whispered, "Some things will never change." Slowly she fell asleep, loving the feeling of being safe at home with all of her friends safe and sound.

"**I wanted to meet you."**

"_I'll be waiting."_

"**It's always closer than it seems."**

"_I'm always with you too. I'll come back to you, I promise._

**"This is real…"**

At least for now.

_**I wanna be with you now  
Sono uchi ni distance mo  
Dakishimerareru you ni nareru yo  
We should stay together  
Yappari I need to be with you**_

_**The End**_

_**Krystal Lily Potter**_


	36. BONUS CHAPTER

**BONUS CHAPTER – Sneak Peak at Shadows of Reality**

The world of nothingness was a world he knew much about. It was not light, it was not dark, and at the same time it was not twilight. It didn't exist, but yet he was able to walk through it.

He was very familiar about this non-existent world. He knew all the twists and turns of it, as this was his realm. After his friends had died he simply faded away. He was still technically alive, but at the same time he wasn't.

It was this that led him to help the Keybearers when they appeared again. He didn't want their lives to end up in tragedy like his had. So he spoke to the Keybearers in their dreams. He trained them in his own way.

Then the souls of his friends started helping him. The first time all three had met in the dreams had left him with both an excited and guilty feeling.

Suddenly he stopped walking, the clang of his armor stopped echoing around the world that did not exist. His eyes stared through his helmet at the rather interesting scene in front of him; the scene that should not exist because this realm wasn't real.

There, in front of him, sat a young man looking rather bored while playing with a match in his hand. Actually, now that he looked closer, he could see that he was just playing with fire, and nothing else.

He studied this person with dark red hair and looked around at the three others with him. There was a woman with long hair that was pink. He did a double take at this. Her hair was a shade of hot pink with blond tips at the ends. She was tossing a knife into the air and catching it repeatedly, not worried about cutting or stabbing herself.

Then there was the figure sitting a few feet away from the woman, simply reading. This one had hair that was an off-shade of green, and briefly the knight wondered why no one seemed to have a normal hair color out of this group.

But he changed his mind when he saw the last figure. This ones hair was done up oddly in either a mullet or a Mohawk, he wasn't quite sure, but it was a deep shade of brown that was normal compared to everyone else.

The knight wondered who these four were. He had never seen them here before, and it was nearly impossible to enter the world of nothingness.

Suddenly the redhead looked around at him quickly, but his eyes were not focused on the knight, but rather something behind him. Before he could turn to look pain exploded in his body and he fell to his knees.

With a hiss of pain he felt something wrap around him tightly, and he didn't have to glance down to know it was darkness. He knew what that felt like all too well.

Then, before he could really comprehend what was happening, the tentacles of darkness dragged him into a dark corridor, and he knew no more.


End file.
